Cyber Riders 2: The Black Market
by MadeInNowhere
Summary: The sequel to Cyber Riders, and set a year and a half after the first one. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow are now permanent freelance agents who get to run their own operations, leading them to new places. However, what happens when an old enemy resurfaces and new threats are on the horizon? Read and review, please no flames.
1. Drop Zone

**DISCLAIMER: All rights to Sonic and associated properties go their respective owners. I own only the story.**

 **So... here we are. The sequel to a story that took me longer than I thought it would to finish. To be honest, I've really been looking forward to doing this. With the other stuff in between, it's been nice to get my mind off things and focus on getting other stuff done that's been on the back-burner for way too damn long. But now is the time to put pretty much all of my focus into this thing. I've gotten a lot better at seeing some things through lately, and I feel like it's been translating well into my writing. Let's hope that the trend continues. I'll see you at the bottom.**

* * *

The last time that we left our heroes, they were former police officers turned freelance agents after an accidental botched job on their first night as cops. In the space of a week, Sonic the hedgehog, Shadow the hedgehog, Knuckles the echidna, and Miles "Tails" Prower the fox had proven to not only be more efficient than the regular police, but much more popular. After capturing Nack and bringing him over to Green Hill from Westopolis, the four were given another chance to be cops, but they turned it down, and chose to remain as freelance officers.

That was a year and a half ago. The four had aged a little, wised up a little, but their friendship had only grown more. Besides that, little else had changed. Knuckles and Shade were still together, with the red echidna pocketing something that he kept hidden for now. Shadow was still living with Maria, and was making more of an effort to meet people. Tails and Cosmo had gotten a place together not far from his parents' shop, and it was nice and cosy for them.

Sonic and Amy were taking things slow, as Sonic learned from his previous relationship with Sally that things going too fast was not something he was comfortable with. Given his current job description and that Amy's heart condition was getting better, the blue hedgehog was okay with this. He was also okay with being friends with Sally, and not just because Amy was friends with the squirrel, either. He made an effort, and even helped Sally move in to her new place in Star Light.

At present, the four freelancers were high up in the sky, all in a helicopter which was being driven by Tails, who put the air vehicle on autopilot. When he did, he smiled to himself as the chopper stayed still, a soothing male voice coming through to confirm the action that Tails had just performed.

"I told you guys," Tails spoke, "it was worth the wait to make this."

"So... this is where we're dropping, huh, boys?" Knuckles asked, putting something in his back pocket as he stood.

"You couldn't resist, could you," Shadow said, shaking his head. He looked over to Sonic, who stood at the open door of the helicopter. "Hey. Letting the wind breeze through your fur, huh?"

Sonic chuckled. "It's a good feeling. It's the same one I get when I run." He turned around. "To think, I'm clocking in insane speeds now with the implants."

"What's your record now?" asked Shadow.

"His top was 120 mph," said Tails. "Dude broke the treadmill just to keep up."

Sonic pointed at the fox. "What he said." He looked back out over the door into the night sky. "Man... it's so peaceful up here... I can see why Tails likes flying around so much."

"Hey, Cosmo likes a good romantic date in the clouds," Tails chuckled. "As do I. Just another thing that we have in common." He then heard a beeping noise. "And another thing that we in here have in common is that we're at the drop zone."

Sonic nodded, looking down at his clothes. In fact, he was wearing the same as the others. A long sleeved shirt, finger-less gloves, baggy trousers, combat boots, and all were black. All also had a little piece in the middle of their chests, each with a corresponding colour: blue for Sonic, red for Knuckles, yellow for Tails, and white for Shadow.

"Remember," said Tails. "We have to come in hot from the roof. We have wings with our suits now, yet another big help from Espio, Charmy, and Vector."

"Nanotechnology has really come a long way," Knuckles said.

"And with the mixture of the medicinal paste, it forms its own body armour," Tails added. "That part was me, by the way."

"And we all thank you for it," Sonic smiled. "All right, so, like Tails said, the plan is to drop down onto the roof of the museum. It's heavily guarded because there's a late night auction going on. Dictators, governors, police officials, all possibly corrupt. One of them wants a very specific article."

"What for?" Knuckles asked.

"It's an ancient Roman statue of an urn," Tails said. "The rumour about it is that it holds the souls of fertility gods. People basically want it to improve their chances of having kids."

"That and the fact that, with the new top floor being built, it's a possible front for all sorts of bad stuff," Shadow added.

"I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and assume that there ain't no fertility gods in that glorified vase," Knuckles said.

"And your stab has hit someone who is now bleeding to death," Sonic smirked. "Congrats."

"Thanks!"

Tails shook his head with a small smile. "Apparently, the statue is a middleman of sorts. There's rumours that it's connected to a drug smuggling gig that could have ties to something in Westopolis."

"The urn is basically a receptacle," said Sonic. "People are putting drugs in it, keeping the lid closed, and using it to deliver said drugs across borders. Because of something within the urn, something likely added after its discovery, the drugs inside can't be detected, and the lid needs a specific key to open it up. Or a lot of explosives."

"Someone put a lot of work into shipping that stuff around," Shadow said. "I'm guessing that what's in that urn isn't your garden variety narcotic, though."

"A lot of people are pointing to Fokus being used," Sonic said. "We had eyes over in Westopolis, but that snake guy moved shop, it seems."

"Beau," Tails said. "Manuel and Lara have moved around too. Drugs, guns, and prostitutes... they could be anywhere now."

"Well, you know what they say when it comes to Rome," Knuckles said, walking to the door of the chopper. He turned around, gave a two-fingered salute, and smiled. "Do as the Romans do." He then fell backwards out of the chopper.

Shadow shook his head. "We did tell him the main plan, right?"

"We did," Sonic smiled. "He knows it."

"Oh, good." The black and red hedgehog walked to the edge. "See you at the bottom."

"Eh, I wouldn't necessarily call it the bottom," Sonic chuckled. He walked over as well, looking down below him to see the faint images of his friends falling. He then stood up, taking a step forward and letting himself free fall downwards.

Tails shook his head. "Ever the showoff... and yet he's my best friend." He turned back around to speak to the helicopter. "Remember, ETA is thirty minutes. If we're not back before then, come in and save us."

"I will," said the chopper's voice. "And remember to have fun, Tails."

"Oh, trust me," the fox smirked, "I always do."

He then jumped backwards too, pointing his body down to move faster and join his friends. They all spread out their arms until they were level with each other, and then nodded, pressing the buttons in their suits. Little black nanobots spread out over their bodies, covering their tactical clothing in pitch black body armour, with vague lines of colour to help tell the difference between who was who, said colours matching the pieces on their chests.

"Remember," Sonic said, "weapons are in a cache on the roof! G.H.P.D. dropped them off for us!"

"What's the plan for force?" Shadow asked.

"Lethal if necessary," Sonic said. "The main plan is to be stealthy for this one. We've got to split up when we get there."

"Guys, the roof is coming up!" Knuckles said, checking something on his wrist.

The others nodded, and they all spread their arms and legs out, allowing the technology of their suits to form wings, slowing their descent dramatically. They all aimed straight down before slowing themselves to land on the roof safely, the wings of the suit vanishing.

They all headed over for the weapons cache, opening it up with a password that was the police department's hallmark, and picked out silenced pistols, with Shadow taking a silenced sniper rifle just in case, as well as taking some grenades which they kept set on stun. Lastly, Tails grabbed some sticky mines.

"As Sonic was saying," the fox spoke, handing the mines out. "we need to split up. There's three generators, one on each main floor, and we need to wipe them out before we do anything else."

"Sneak in, snuff the lights, take the guards out, grab the urn," Knuckles said. "Good thing these babies work like the grenades do."

"True," Tails said, nodding in agreement. "Pretty convenient."

"All right, let's get to work," Shadow said.

The others nodded, and all their suits started to shift again as masks formed to fit their heads thanks to the nanotechnology. Once again, the masks matched the colours of each suit, even having eyes of different colours that acted like night vision goggles.

The four each headed to different sides of the roof, keeping their weapons concealed as they did so. They used a wrist-mounted grappling hook on the edge to abseil down, coming to different parts of a large window where light shone through. They carefully placed some mines on the roofs and scaled back up, the mines themselves vibrating and letting off a small, silent explosion, the glass shattering being the only noise of note.

"Did you hear something?" asked one of the guards.

The other man with him went to one of the pieces of shattered glass, pulling out a shoulder mic. "All units, be advised, we have possible intrud-"

A quick blow to the back of his head knocked him out, and the other guard turned to the source of it. He saw a figure in black and white, but didn't see another figure behind him, wrapping his arms around the guard's neck until he was unconscious.

"All clear up here?" Knuckles asked.

Tails shook his head. "Doesn't look like it. There are guards coming up."

Sonic nodded, throwing a mine down onto the ground. He and the others hid behind cover, the lights of their suits hiding them only temporarily as more guards came up. The guards swept the area, not seeing much of note until one of the flashlights gleamed off something.

The guard nodded in the direction, and all were approaching it when they were all separated suddenly, the mine under their feet knocking them back. Before any of them could get back up, they saw another mine stuck on the ceiling, which fell down and let out a shock powerful enough to knock them all out.

"Good teamwork," Sonic said.

"Hey, just because we're being stealthy doesn't mean we can't be cool," Knuckles shrugged.

"True," Sonic nodded. "All right, let's keep moving."

He led the way forward, the others following behind him. Tails looked around for any power sources that he could find, but shook his head. soon pressing on with the others. They found a stairway that led downstairs, to the third floor.

"Why does this museum have a random fourth floor with nothing on it?" Knuckles asked. "Or is this the new exhibit?"

"From what I heard, it's a recent addition," Tails said. "They're thinking about putting it all up here specifically. Which they're not going to be able to do, with any luck."

"Eh, I was always more into Greek mythology than Roman," said Knuckles. "Also, I thought the plan was to do the generators first?"

"It was, but we needed an opening," Sonic said. "With this being a new section, it was the easiest way to get in. Just happened to be guards here."

"So, the rest of the plan will go as usual?" Shadow asked.

"That's the idea," Sonic said. "Come on, you know by now that our plans have a specific order. We just don't always follow it."

There were more footsteps approaching, and Shadow shook his head. "So, what's the plan now?"

"Just follow my lead..."

The guards were soon upstairs at the floor, although not as many as last time. A small clanking sound was near them, and they looked to see a grenade, which burst into a brilliant ball of light, blinding them all. The sounds of blows landing followed, and the guards were on the ground, unconscious.

"Let's get back to our job," said Sonic, heading down the flight of stairs that the guards kept popping through. The other Mobians followed.

"We have more floors to get through," Knuckles pointed out. "We can't fight them all."

"We're not going to," said Sonic. "We shouldn't have fought this many."

"Well, security is tight for this," Tails said. "Still, even for a museum auction... something's not right..."

They followed the stairs to the next floor down, which was mostly filled with fossils and ancient artefacts from various prehistoric periods. The statue of the T-Rex in the centre stood out the most, with its pose suggesting a proud roar.

"All right, the generator for this floor is at the back of the room," said Tails. "Remember, we just need to take it out. Try not to fight anyone if you can help it."

Sonic looked over the landing where they were. "Doesn't look like there's a lot of guards here."

"I think that most of the guards from this floor are sort of sleeping on the floor above," Knuckles said.

Sonic smiled, pressing a button on the side of his helmet. The room scanned around, feeding information back to him and the others. They saw a little HUD that told them where the guards were, how armed they were, how many, and other important information that they needed.

"All right, there's two doors which lead to staircases here," Sonic said. "They're on the left and right of the room. Shadow, you don't have a clear line to teleport to the generator from here, so we need to get you closer."

"The best route is to get to the bottom of this room. There's a ladder that leads to small platform where there's a hidden generator," said Tails. "But we need a key to open the door." The suit scanned the soldiers again, seeing three on a raised up floor, one of which held a key-card. "And there it is."

"The only one who can reach them is you, fuzzy," Sonic said.

The yellow fox nodded with a smile. "I got this."

He rose up, using his tails to spin himself over to the side of the platform. He took some cover behind an exhibit of some amber stones, and he willed the nanobots that formed his suit to switch his light on and then off again. A few seconds later, he heard footsteps coming over, and he swept up from behind the sound to capture a guard in a choking grip. With one arm on him, muffling the guard's mouth, Tails pulled out his pistol to fire two tranquilliser shots at the other two guards, hitting them both dead on. Tails then hit the guard he was holding in the back of the head, knocking him out too. The guard fell, and the fox found the key-card on his body, flying back over to rejoin the others.

"Here," he said, handing it to Shadow. "It's all on you, now."

The black and red hedgehog nodded, going further down the room, being careful on the stairs to not make a sound. When he saw a clear line of sight to reach the bottom floor, he took it, teleporting to it and whispering.

"All right, I'm down here," he said. "Ladder at the back of the room, right?"

"Right," said Tails. "And about two guards between you and that ladder. Think you can handle it?"

Shadow didn't reply, simply pulling out his silenced sniper rifle. He aimed it over the little bit of cover that he had, seeing the guards circling back and forth past each other before one stopped the other. Shadow saw that they were having a conversation before one pulled out a cigarette packet, handing one to the other guard.

Shadow took a deep breath, aiming the sniper rifle. As the second guard lit up his cigarette, Shadow fired a dart into his neck, causing him to fall down. The other guard dropped his packet, turning to look, only to catch a dart to his chest, also falling down.

"That's them taken care of," Shadow said.

"Good work," Sonic said. "Remember, we can't one and done it when it comes to the generators. We go down, set each charge, then we short them out. It's our best chance to get the urn."

Shadow teleported over to the ladder, going up it and swiping the door with the key-card. It was opened, and a small room was present to him, with an electrical generator inside. Shadow picked out a mine from his pocket it, attaching it to the generator and setting it to activate when ready, heading back to the others soon.

"It's done," Shadow said.

"Two more floors left," Sonic said. "Let's keep going."

The others nodded, going down to the second floor. They took in how much brighter this room was than others, with the darkness of the night that shone through the windows doing its worst work to keep our heroes concealed. Still, considering the room's features, mostly consisting of Chinese and Japanese mythology, the bright lights were a given.

"Huh," Knuckles said. "Dibs on that ruby dragon statue. Looks nice."

"We're not stealing that," Sonic said. "We're not thieves. We're just a group of guys sneaking through a museum to steal an ancient urn."

"So... good thieves?"

"Yeah, let's go with that."

"I just wish they'd pick a culture and stick to it," said Tails. "I like my mythology based on Japan and China, but they don't clash well."

"All right, let's find that generator," Sonic said. His suit scanned the room, detecting not as many guards, but one was on his radio to another, speaking to the others before they split up. "The generator is on this floor. The door's closed again, and two guards are blocking it."

"I'll take out the one on the radio," said Shadow. "See if I can create a distraction."

"Yeah, because your loud nature lends to that," Knuckles quipped.

Shadow shook his head. "While that's happening, whoever gets there first gets the generator."

"Or..." Knuckles turned to Tails, and they both prepared their hands for rock paper scissors. After three beats, Tails won via paper covering rock. "You got lucky."

Tails smiled at that, and Shadow decided to get to work. He went over to find some cover near where the radio guard was, and took a breath. He reached for his pistol and detached the magazine from it, sliding it loudly along the floor next to the guard.

"Huh?" The guard looked down at the clip. "What was that noise?" He turned as another one slid to him, but was only met with a knee straight to his face, crushing his nose in one blow and knocking him out as well.

Shadow picked up his magazines, putting them back in his suit before nodding at Tails as the guards were distracted. Said guards rushed down the stairs, not seeing anything until the light shone upon their unconscious third man. Shadow went to work quickly, firing a dart each for both, knocking them out.

Tails watched for a few moments before attaching his mine to the generator, giving a thumbs-up. "All good?"

"We're good," Shadow nodded.

"All right, next floor down," Sonic said.

The blue hedgehog quickly threw a sticky mine onto the doorway, knowing that more guards would be up. As they came into view, the mine exploded with a shocking flash, blinding the men long enough for Shadow to fire darts at them all to knock them out.

"Dunno who got those guards up here, but smart thinking on the mine," said Knuckles.

"Thanks," Sonic nodded.

They made their way down to the next floor, even taking out a guard on the staircase who was blocking them. As they reached the next room, they noted that it was darker again, a stark contrast to the room above with the bright lights and garish decor.

Sonic ran the scan through, seeing more guards this time around, all armed. "Hmm... this one's got much tighter security."

"Makes sense," Shadow shrugged. "The ground floor is just one more down. That and they've probably noticed some men missing."

"It's already dark down here," said Sonic. "Keep your lights off. Shadow, you hang back and fire from here. Tails, distract them from the air. Me and Knuckles will get more up close with them all."

"Hey, as long as I get to take out the generator, I'm good," Knuckles shrugged.

"That was part of the plan," Sonic said. "We get one each."

"Except for you," Tails pointed out.

"Hey, I get to arrest the ass-hole who's trying to sell the drugs in the first place. I'm fine with that," Sonic smirked. "All right, let's move."

Tails flew up, staying low against the ceiling. He was a black blip against the moon that shone through, and some guards looked up to see him. Tails zipped down to kick one guard in the face, pushing down to knock him out. As other guards were distracted, Shadow took aim with his sniper rifle, firing to knock some of the more further away guards out.

Sonic and Knuckles moved around quickly too, with the former using his speed to slip past one side of the guards, causing some to look the other way as Shadow fired more and Knuckles even got to take some of the guards out himself, using his enhanced strength to knock them out easily.

Soon, the bottom floor was cleared, and Tails landed onto the higher floor, seeing some guards on a staircase. He dropped a mine down as they moved to the bottom of the steps, and when they turned at the sound, the mine activated, knocking the guards over the side and onto the ground.

Sonic checked the stats, smiling. "All right, room's cleared." He turned to Knuckles. "If you wouldn't mind."

The red echidna smiled, walking up to the generator and placing a mine onto it. "Mine in place. That's all of them."

"Great. Now, let's go downstairs and see if we can get our bid in."

Downstairs, meanwhile, was brightly lit, and several rich looking men and women were sat down. Around the entrances and exits, several security guards stood around, watching over the event and looking around for any signs of trouble.

At the front of the room was the urn in question, a beautiful ceramic white piece with carved designs of a war around the outside. The urn was also quite large, and had two round handles on either side, with the lid firmly attached as the auctioneer cleared his throat and spoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen, article 246, an ancient Roman urn," the auctioneer said. "Said to have held the weapons of a great warrior, specifically his sword which decapitated a great beast and granted its wielder immortality. And while it can't do the same for you, it is a fascinating piece, I'm sure you'll agree. The bidding starts at 50,000."

"500!" said one of the bidders.

"Another 500!" said another.

A few other bidders raised their paddles up and bid higher numbers, and one of the guards watching over heard a noise behind him. He went to investigate, only to get a shot to his neck. Another guard, this one closer to the urn, touched a hand to his earpiece, whispering in the auctioneer's ear.

"Sorry," said the auctioneer. "We seem to be having some-"

"Issues?" asked Sonic, walking in. He was still in his suit, with only his face revealed. "I'll admit, I'm usually bored by this kinda stuff, but I'd have to agree with you there."

"What seems to be the meaning of this?" The auctioneer looked either side of him as the guards next to him fell down unconscious, and Sonic pulled a gun on him before speaking.

"Any more guards make a move, and this sack of shit drops like... well, a sack of shit."

"What... what are you doing here?"

"Mr... Lang," Sonic said. "Am I saying that right?"

"But... that's not my name..."

"I know," Sonic smiled. "I should really be facing the right way, shouldn't I?" He turned around. "I'm looking for a Mr. Henry Lang, and his sister named Kitty. See, I happen to have it on good authority that you two are really looking to buy out this here urn because you know what's inside of it."

"I assure you-"

Sonic turned and pointed again at the auctioneer. "Mr. Cottons, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't interrupt me."

A guard moved, but was dropped to the floor with a shot, knocking him out. Cottons looked shocked. "Why are you killing all of these men?"

"They're fine," said Sonic. "The worst that they'll get is a concussion. And maybe some slight dizziness."

"What do you want?" asked Cottons.

"I want to know where the Lang siblings are. Truth be told, I only need the sister."

"What for?"

"Because the sister recently got into trouble with her medical bills after a car accident. She was given an implant that allowed her legs to function again so that she could walk, but she couldn't pay the hospital after. So, she's looking to buy this urn to sell what's inside it. The only trouble is... well, she's also here to get the key that opens that urn." Sonic looked at Cottons. "Do you know where it is?"

"It's on my card here," Cottons said, gesturing to a strap clipped around his neck. It had his card and name on it. "On the other side of this is the key." He turned it to prove it.

"Sir, I need that key," Sonic said. "I need to open that urn. Or, rather, I need to take it with me."

"And if I refuse?"

Sonic smirked, shrugging. "Then I guess that I'll have to take it by force if necessary."

Cottons seemed confused, but then the power to the whole building shut off, with not a light activating. Some of the guards turned on some torches they had on their suits, but said guards were knocked out quickly, leaving the room completely dark as Sonic ran a quick scan with his suit.

"Hmm... interesting..."

"What is?" Cottons asked. He was distracted as he heard a noise. "And what is that?"

"The Lang siblings aren't in this room," said Sonic. "Well, not directly."

"We need the backup generator running!" said the auctioneer.

"Ah, no need," Sonic said. "It's not working."

"What?"

"There's no power in this building. At all." Sonic chuckled. "And it really helps us as well. But we need your help too." He stepped closer to Cottons, the lights on his suit activating. "See, it is true that Lang wants what's in that urn because she knows what's in it. But I get the feeling that you won't give that key up so easily."

"Oh, trust me, I don't even know what's in there," Cottons said, reaching for his pocket. "Just take the key."

Sonic took the key, nodding. "Thank you. But why?"

"Because I have an auction to run, and I just want to do my job."

Sonic smiled. "Well, you must have not gotten the memo about what we do. See, that's red tape stuff, really, and it usually falls in the hands of the cops. But because of what happened, you won't be able to do your job a lot longer."

"How do you figure?"

"Wow, you really haven't done this before, have you?" Sonic asked. "Questions from the police, being asked if you knew what you were transporting, being asked who gave it to you, and who gave it to them, and so on."

"Why don't you just ask me right now?"

"Because that's not our priority." Sonic shrugged. "Oh, and that noise is a plasma cutter cutting a circle around the floor under your urn. I know that the key is bullshit, but it's a nice cover... Mr. Lang."

"I don't... get it..."

Sonic smiled as the power came back to the building, while the urn dropped down onto the ground below the circle. Sonic leaned over to see Vector, Espio, and Charmy having caught it safely, setting it onto the ground and looking up.

"This is it, right?" asked Vector.

"That's the one!" Sonic said. "Good work on the backup generator too! Way to take the initiative!"

"No problem!" said Espio. "We'll get this back to Avery!"

"You okay to finish up here on your own?" Charmy asked.

"We'll be fine!" Sonic called. As the others made their way out, Sonic turned back around to see Cottons taking off his face, revealing a man with Asian ancestry underneath. "Ah, Henry Lang, I presume."

"You had me pegged from the start, didn't you?"

Sonic smirked. "Damn right." He then heard a bathroom door opening and closing, turning to see Kitty Lang leaving it, holding a gun up to aim at Sonic. "And look! The whole family of ass-holes is here!"

"Should I shoot him now?" asked Kitty.

"It'd be nice," said Henry.

Before she could, she was dropped by a shot, a needle in her arm knocking her out. Sonic sighed. "Are you ever not going to be dramatic with that?"

Shadow teleported behind Henry. "What? I thought that I did a good job there."

Tails soon flew down, dropping Knuckles onto the ground as well as both kept their guns on the Lang brother, who had his hands up. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Identity theft, mostly," said Sonic. "You and your sister. It took us a lot of time to get your real names. And because you got found out by the wrong people, you were both looking to take away what was in the urn to sell it and pay off the people you ripped off."

Henry shook his head. "You don't know anything!"

"Nah, he's right," Knuckles said. "We're just freelance agents. We couldn't possibly have access to that kind of data."

"Especially so quickly," Tails added.

"Who ratted me out?"

"The criminal database," said Shadow. "We went through... what was it, 200 names before we got Lang?"

"I think that it was about that number, yeah," Sonic nodded. "And that is... at least 6 decades in prison. By that time, no amount of makeup and fake ID cards can get your sorry asses out of jail."

"Not to mention that the guards here were hired to take out anyone who tried to bid higher than Kitty did," said Tails. "They must have been on the same payroll, right?"

"Well, at least affiliated," Knuckles said. "Petty stuff, mostly. You hired them easily because they would have been more expendable. Attackers, purse snatchers, that kind of thing, I'm guessing."

Henry shook his head. "You... bastards..."

Sonic smiled, turning to face one of the side doors. "And, if I'm right, that means that the good old boys from Green Hill should be bursting through that door in 3... 2..."

The door that they were facing did burst open, as did another behind them, and several Green Hill police officers rushed in, one group collecting the unconscious Lang sister and the other collecting the brother from Sonic, putting a pair of handcuffs on him.

"Hey, guys!" Bunnie said. She walked over, hugging them all together and giggling before releasing it. "Wow, y'all have gotten stronger since last time!"

"Same with you," Sonic said. "Those parts of yours must have been upgraded, huh?"

"Well, that's the handiwork of the Tech Trio, as we like to call them," said Antoine.

"They do mighty fine work," said Knuckles.

"As did you," Avery said, appearing behind the two smaller Mobians. "Another great crackdown."

"Thank you," Sonic said.

"No sir at the end?" Avery chuckled.

"You haven't been our boss for over a year. It'd feel weird to still say it," Sonic chuckled back.

"It's no issue," Avery said. "We'll wrap up here. We have the urn ready to take to the evidence locker back at our base, and we have the criminals ready to go to jail."

"Not to mention that we have to put tape around the museum," said Antoine. "We don't know what else there could be."

"And we have tickets to watch the Green Hill Goliaths take on the Star Light Savages," said Knuckles.

"Don't spoil it for me," said Avery. "I have it set to record tonight."

Knuckles smiled. "All right, we'll let you get back to doing all the hard work."

Avery chuckled. "You did good tonight, like always. See you when I see you."

They all then parted ways, with the guards being picked up as well during their conversation, all being thrown into police cars. They all left the building, watching the other cars leave as Tails reached for his wrist, pressing a button.

"All right, we got done early, so you can come get us," he said.

"Certainly," said the chopper's AI voice.

They all looked up to see the chopper coming down, and all deactivated their suits so that they were back in their normal clothing beforehand. The helicopter landed, and they all climbed in, taking their seats as they took to the skies again.

* * *

 **And here's the first of three! See? What a nice present. This wasn't the plan at the start, but I mulled it over in my mind a lot, and thought... screw it. It'll be enough to tide you over. Anyway, I'll be seeing you real soon for the next two chapters of this. Take care, and stay tuned.**


	2. Shave Some Ice

"You know, you could have brought Amy along too," Knuckles said as the helicopter got ever closer to their base.

"I would have loved too, but she's watching it at her sister's bar," Sonic shrugged. "Good thing that she got the day off for that."

"It's nice to see her getting the time off," Tails said. "Sally's there too, right?"

"Yep."

"Is that awkward that I brought it up?"

Sonic smiled. "Not really. Since she came back, things have been really cool with us."

"It doesn't hurt that she lives in another city," Knuckles grinned.

"Hey, come on," Sonic said, moping. "We're both making an effort, at least."

"I know, but it's fun to antagonise you," Knuckles said. "We do it to each other all the time."

"Well, one thing that isn't a joke is that we've all got the Goliaths winning," Tails smiled.

He slowed the chopper down to land the vehicle onto the helipad on top of their base. The four left after Tails cut off the engine, all taking the door on the roof to go downstairs to the main base, heading to the first catwalk where their rooms were.

"We're home!" Sonic called out. After he did, the lights inside the base all lit up. "Never gets old."

"Man... Bunnie sure did a great job renovating this place," Knuckles said. "She has an eye for design."

"Wasn't just her," Sonic replied. "A lot of cops and civilians offered to help."

"It was nice getting normal people to help out," Tails said. "They didn't want to be paid, either."

"Well, we'd best not let the fame get to our heads," Sonic smiled. "Come on. Let's get ourselves sprayed up and looking pretty."

The others agreed, all going to their own rooms. They took quick showers, sprayed themselves with deodorants to keep their fresh smell locked in, and then got dressed, wearing different styles of shirts and trousers in a mixture of colours and all grabbing some sports jerseys too.

"We're still rocking number 28, huh?" Sonic smiled.

"Yep," Tails said. "Come on, though. Colt McLeavy is the best goalie of our time."

"Maybe the best ever," Sonic chuckled. "Let's get going."

They all headed to the front door, slipping on some shoes, They all saw their hover-boards floating in a sideways position among some some racks, which were a new feature courtesy of their friends. The boards had been redesigned, looking sleeker now, and all were folded in half as the four took them.

"And speaking of new stuff," Tails started, "our good friends in G.H.P.D's armoury have busted their asses making these for us."

"Want to take them to the stadium?" asked Knuckles. "It'll be nice to use them after all of the work that went into them."

"I don't see why not," Sonic smiled. "But that does mean us not using your car. Or my car."

"Dude, we hardly ever use your car," Shadow said.

"Eh, you're not wrong there. All right, let's move."

They left the building proper, with Tails putting in a code and shutting off all the lights inside, and at the same time, activating several CCTV cameras around the lot to watch over in case of intruders. There were even some on the roof and around the back.

As for the parking lot itself, it was a lot smaller now, with the alleyway that led to the building practically not existing any more, making it easier for people to get there and back should the need arise. And considering how much more they were demanded, the need arose a lot.

The four found their way to the road, looking up and down it, and Shadow shook his head. "Traffic jam, man."

"Hey, they want to see the game," Tails shrugged. "I don't blame them."

"Well, it's a good thing that we have hover-board lanes now," Sonic said. "We're not the only people to use these any more."

"Which sucks, because we're the only ones who know what we're doing," said Knuckles.

"Knuckles, last month I saw you fall on your nose and almost break it from trying to grind a rail," Tails said.

"Hey, that video got tons of hits," Knuckles smiled. "At least when I'm not a freelancer, I've got a good future in viral videos where I cause myself damage. I'd be like a one man Jackass."

"Oh, you've already got that last part covered," Sonic smirked.

"I hope the puck smashes the glass and breaks your teeth," Knuckles said.

"But it won't." Sonic then paused. "Do you have the tickets?"

Knuckles reached into his pocket, pulling them out. "I might be stupid, but I'm not forgetful. Well... not always."

They all shared more laughter, throwing down their boards. Each one stopped as it was, hovering for a moment before unfurling to extend themselves, taking their full shapes and waiting for their owners to hop onto them. All four hopped onto their respective vehicles, and soon started zipping past the cars on the way to the stadium.

"Oh, it's so much fun to be able to do this," Sonic said. "Good thing we didn't take the car."

Tails chuckled. "I know how we can get there faster!"

"I like the way you think!" Sonic replied. "Gentlemen?"

All chuckled, putting their rear feet back on the board and lifting them before pushing them down and boosting their speed. Since their boards were locked to the venue's location, they didn't have to worry about bumping or scraping against any cars on the way there, and the trip itself was made easier too, with magnetic straps shooting from the top of the board to keep their feet steady just in case.

"And here we are!" Sonic smiled as the stadium came into view. "The Emerald Giant stadium!"

"All right, let's find a place to park and hop in," said Tails.

They go up to the side of the building, seeing some slots reserved for people on hover-boards. Unfortunately, there was only one slot left, and four people with boards, so they all looked at each other, smiling as the same thought passed their heads.

They all decided to race to put their boards away, and whoever would be first would win, and the others would have to keep their boards on their person. As Sonic began to gain speed, he took off ahead of the others, turning and smiling.

"I've got this! You may as well quit, because-"

He then stopped talking when he saw Shadow teleport, and he turned back to the board slot to see Shadow there, folding his board up and putting it away. The others all stopped and looked at the black and red hedgehog, who shrugged and started walking into the building.

"Come on," he said. "It's almost starting."

The others resigned to folding their boards up, having to carry them into the building. They passed the front and showed their tickets, as well as their IDs and permits to carry their boards around. After their tickets were scanned, they walked through the corridor, emerging out of it and into the stands of the building.

The Emerald Giant Stadium was a marvel of man-made ingenuity. The arena was wide enough to fit some 75,000 people, with just over a third of that number being seated, Sonic and the freelancers included now. The inside was well lit, showing that the ice of the field had been cut down to the right size thanks to a Zamboni driver who was waving at the cheering fans. The windows were cleaned as well, and the hockey court looked much like a regular one, with the logo in the middle being a large dark green fist clutching a hockey puck in its hand.

"All right, let's go, Goliaths!" said Sonic.

"They're not here yet," Tails said.

"Remember the rule," Knuckles added. "Jerseys go on when they come out."

As Knuckles said that, the lights went out, and the fist light up, beginning to move. It started spinning around where it was before throwing the puck it held onto the ground, and a hockey stick swung at the puck only for it to be caught by another green fist, resetting into the centre of the arena.

"That's so damn cool," Tails said.

"This next part's even better," Sonic smiled.

On the opposite side from where they were sat were two corridors. One had the Goliaths logo, and the other had the Savages Logo, which looked like a fanged hockey mask with stars for eyes biting a hockey stick in half. The Star Light door opened first, and out came the players as the announcer began speaking in his booming voice.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Star Light Savages!"

The team in question came out, as the song "Fall, Goliath, Fall" by Project 86 played, earning the team loud boos from the crowd, minus the four heroes. They'd been to Star Light enough that they knew some of the people from Star Light's hockey team, and knowing that the song was only there to play up the tension only added to the sense of fun.

"Good heel tactic," said Tails.

"It would be if this were pro wrestling," Knuckles grinned. He then waved at one of the players, who gave him a thumbs up, and then a Green Hill fan in front of Knuckles turned to face him, to which the red echidna shrugged. "What? I can't respect both sides?"

Then the next song, "Wild Eyes" by Parkway Drive, began to play, and the crowd chanted along with the intro. Soon, the Green Hill locker door burst open, and out came the Green Hill Goliaths, skating around the arena much like Star Light did, waving to fans as they went along.

"Now?" asked Tails.

"Now," Sonic nodded.

The four all pulled out their jerseys, wearing them over their shirts. Each one had the home team colours of the Goliaths, with the signature white, dark green, and light blue making up the main design. Conversely, Sonic saw some fans wearing the home and away colours of the Star Light fans, which were a mixture of midnight blue and dark gold, with some black and white thrown in for good measure, where as the away colours for the Goliaths were also inverted from the home colours.

"Let's go, Colt!" Knuckles cheered as the goalie in question settled into his position.

Meanwhile, as the game started playing, several people were watching at the Midnight Oil. Amy, Sally, Shade, Rouge, and Maria were sat around a table, with Rosy coming over to deliver another round of drinks to them.

"You know, it's strange to see you here, Maria," Rosy said. "You don't seem like the sports type."

"I'm not usually, but Shadow is a fan, and it's starting to grow on me," Maria smiled.

"Well, you enjoy your coke, sports fan," said Rosy. "And a beer for Shade."

"Just the one," Shade shrugged. "It won't affect my driving home."

"I hope not," said Rosy. "I don't want to lose one of my best customers."

"Guys, look! They're on the screen!" Amy called.

The others looked up, seeing the four Mobians in question behind the glass of the wall, all standing and joining a Mexican wave after a goal was scored for their team. The four then stood up and joined in a chant against the other side before sitting back down.

"Boys will be boys," Rosy shook her head.

"Yo, could we get some burgers over here?" asked a far away table.

"On it!" Rosy replied, turning to her friends. "Duty calls."

Amy looked proudly up at the screen, more specifically at Sonic. "Man... he's come so far."

"They all have," Sally said. "And what a lucky man he is to have someone like you."

"Thank you... for being so okay with this," Amy said.

"I've told you before, I got rid of all of my jealousy when I took that trip," Sally said. "Seriously, I'm fine with it. I still talk to him, and you, so it's not like there's any more animosity. And, for what it's worth... and this sounds harsh, but... I kind of don't want him back."

"Oh, gee, that helps," Amy deadpanned.

Sally giggled. "I mean, he deserves to be happy with someone that can give that to him. And I'm glad that it's you."

"Why her specifically?" Rouge asked. "Am I not good enough?"

"I mean, I'm sure that Sonic wouldn't say no to you," Amy smirked. "Then again, if I swung that way, neither would I."

"Ooh, frisky hedgehog," Rouge giggled. "But thanks for the compliment."

"No problem," Amy said. "Let's get back to watching our team shave some ice! And before you start laughing, I said ice!"

"Want more ice in your drink?" Rosy asked from behind the counter.

"I was clarifying a phrase, but in the next one, yes please!" Amy replied. "And I get the family discount too!"

"I can only guarantee one of those things happening!" Rosy replied, heading to the kitchen.

Back in the arena, one of the Star Light team got a clear shot, but the goalie reached one of his gloves up to catch it, raising the puck. The fans did the same thing, raising their own fists and giving a Hulk-like roar.

"Go, Goliaths, go, go Goliaths!" they all chanted.

"Man, that was a great save," said Tails. "Colt hasn't lost a step."

"Strange to think that he started for the Angel Wing Halos too," Knuckles said. "Well, back when most of the city was still standing and when we had a hockey team to speak of."

"Maybe they could rebuild the Angel Heart Arena," said Sonic. "It was a very nice looking place."

Knuckles smiled. "Me and my dad got to see our first game there. I even got to meet Colt after the match was over, but he couldn't stick around for too long after, sadly."

"Why?" asked Tails.

"During the game, he got into a fight where the other guy really messed up his nose," Knuckles said. "The doctors took him in, so I didn't get to see him."

"Hoping to change that tonight, huh?" asked Sonic.

"Yeah," Knuckles smiled. "Maybe we can all get him to sign our jerseys and then our friends will like us."

"And our girlfriends will be jealous, even both of Shadow's," Sonic smirked.

Knuckles felt around in his pocket again. "Maybe that won't be the only change..."

"You okay?" Tails asked.

"Oh, yeah, I'm good," said Knuckles. "I just need to head to the bathroom, actually. I'll be right back."

"All right, but if there's any fights, you're going to miss out," Tails warned playfully.

"Tempting, but I really don't want to piss so hard that I melt the arena," Knuckles smiled, turning to head through the corridors.

He found the bathroom and did his business, cleaning up and washing his hands as he waited for the other person there to leave. As he did, Knuckles reached into his pocket, pulling out a little black box and opening it up in front of the mirror, showing a small golden ring with a bright amethyst set into it.

"Shade, you and I have been together for a long time, and... will you marry me?" He shook his head. "No... too forced..." He cleared his throat. "Shade, I love you so much, and I never want to stop, and... ugh, way too sappy." He tried again. "Shade... my dearest, my love, my one and only... oh, god, way too Shakespearean."

"Yo!" Sonic said with a knock. "Everything okay in there?"

Knuckles panicked, quickly hiding the ring behind himself as Sonic entered. "Oh, y-yeah! All is good. Everything's good up in here."

Sonic smiled, seeing his friend's hands behind his back. "So, you're not hiding anything behind you?"

"What could I be hiding?" asked Knuckles. "They double check us going through these places, remember? No guns or anything from any of us."

The blue hedgehog turned his head slightly to the mirror. "Right... and you're totally not hiding a little box that contains an engagement or wedding ring behind you that I can clearly see in the mirror, right?"

"Damn reflection..." Knuckles spoke under his breath.

Sonic smiled. "Another case solved. Now we can get back to enjoying the game. Oh, and you missed a fight."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Fitz from Star Light knocked out Bryce from our side," said Sonic.

"Well, Bryce always did have a glass jaw."

"Hey, he's always been one hell of a long-ranged shooter," Sonic shrugged. "He's just not so good at defence, is all."

Knuckles smiled. "So... yeah. I want to propose to Shade. I don't know when or how I'll do it, but I've held on to this for a few weeks now. I just... I feel like it's right, you know?"

Sonic walked over, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Go for it, dude. If it's right, it's right. And I've been watching you two enough to know that it's right."

Knuckles nodded. "Yeah... I will. I'll make it real pretty too."

"Could I see the ring?"

The red echidna nodded, showing it to Sonic. "Thoughts?"

"Ooh... very fancy," said Sonic. "Nice touch with the gemstone."

"I thought so too," Knuckles smiled. "So, shall we get back to the show?"

"Of course we shall, person who's going to make me the best man at his wedding," Sonic said.

"I think just Knuckles will suffice," the echidna grinned, putting his ring back in his pocket.

Knuckles started leaving, and Sonic was about to follow when he felt his stomach hurt a bit. "Ah... shit..."

"You okay here?" Knuckles asked, stopping to leave.

"Yeah. Probably just that wound acting up," Sonic said. "It's probably nothing."

"Let's hope so," Knuckles said. "Let's get going. People might get worried."

The blue hedgehog nodded, and the two then left the bathroom, earning an odd look from a clearly drunk fan who was there. As Knuckles and Sonic reached their seats, they saw Shadow and Tails with drinks of soda and some hot-dogs as well, with Tails having some extra drinks and food in his hands.

"Oh, there you two are!" Tails said. "I was starting to worry!" He handed the food to his friends. "Here. I held on to them for you."

"What were you doing in that bathroom?" asked Shadow.

"I'd show you, but I'm afraid that it'll be seen on national television and spoil a surprise for a bit later down the road," said Knuckles.

"Then whisper it to me," Shadow said.

Knuckles shrugged, leaning over. "I'm going to ask Shade to marry me..." he whispered.

Shadow smiled, as did Tails who leaned over. "Congrats, dude!" said the fox.

"What the heck are they talking about?" asked Shade, taking a sip of her beer.

"Damned if I know," Amy shrugged. She then looked closer. "But it looks like it's about to get exciting. I'm fairly sure that one of our guys just called one of theirs a fucking prick... and now the Star Light guy has dropped his stick and gloves... now they both have... and we have a brawl, people!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" the crowd chanted.

The two players in question grabbed each other's collars with their hands, the Green Hill one slipping a bit as he tried to stay up. He ate a few straight rights while throwing some of his own before twisting his opponent's shirt, causing them both to wobble as the Green Hill fighter ducked under, delivering a harsh right uppercut followed by a left hook, knocking out Star Light's player.

"And boom!" said Sonic. "Out he goes!"

The two players shared a respectful fist bump as they got back to their positions, and Tails smiled. "See? Respect for the sport. That's what I like."

"You're just saying that because our side won the fight," Sonic said.

"Eh... yeah, maybe."

More of the game passed, and soon it was all said and done, with a few more fistfights in between as well. Green Hill one 4-2, but also had more penalties after one of their players got a bit too rough several times. Still, since he recognised the freelancers, he got in some nice conversation with them.

"All right, you ready to say hi to your hero?" Sonic smiled.

"You know it!" Knuckles said, turning to Tails. "Thank you for getting us this passes."

"Hey, it was surprisingly easy," Tails replied. "Turns out that saving lots of people gets you lots of perks."

They got to the back area where the team locker rooms were, and inside their coach was giving them a speech, commending them on how good their game was, and as the four heroes walked in, they overheard some of the end of the conversation.

"As you know," said Kim, the team's head coach, "Colt is officially retiring at the end of this season. He's had a lengthy career full of highs and lows, and we've been more than happy to have him play for us."

Colt stood up and smiled, about to speak when he saw the Mobians. "Oh, hey, it's you guys!"

"You're retiring?" Tails asked.

"Yeah... but it's after the season is over," Colt smiled. "There's another seven months to go yet."

"Hey, I remember you," said another player. "You helped my grandma get her cat out that tree!"

Tails smiled. "Yeah... that was me."

"And you knocked out those muggers who almost got my sister!" said another player.

Knuckles nodded. "They had it coming."

"Why is your story so much cooler than mine?" Tails asked.

Kim smiled. "I know that you guys are heroes, but I do need to see the passes." As he saw them, he nodded. "All right, you're good. Sit down and talk with the guys, ask them whatever you want. You've got half an hour."

Knuckles nodded. "Colt, is it okay if we talk?"

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Well, do you remember when you started for the Angel Wing Halos?"

Colt nodded. "Yeah... I do. Holy shit, that's where I know you. You're that kid. Man... you got a lot bigger." He wiped the smile from his face. "Sorry to hear what happened to your relatives over there. Probably wasn't easy."

"It really wasn't," Knuckles admitted. "But... at least I got to see you play when you started. It's like a weird coincidence that you're finishing your career in Green Hill."

"I needed a nice new place after Angel Wing went away," said Colt. "Figured this was the best spot for it. Heck, some of the people that used to play for Angel Wing spent some time here with me. Some left for other teams, some retired, and one even went to Aqua Lake to start his own independent hockey league."

"Oh, yeah, the Cold Shot League," said Knuckles. "I know it."

Colt grinned. "So, I figured that I owe ya something since I couldn't say hi to you back when you were a kid. What'll it be?"

"Could you sign my jersey?" Knuckles asked.

"I'll do you one better," said Colt. "Bring your friends over."

The other three rushed over. "Yeah?" said Shadow.

Colt smiled. "Guys! Let's all sign them!"

The other players of Green Hill gave nods of agreement, all walking over to sign their names on to all of the freelancers' hockey jerseys. Soon, each one was covered with names, but it only added to the authenticity without taking away anything. Even the coach signed his name to finish it off.

After they were done, the four kept asking questions to fill their time up before the coach spoke up again. "All right, we'd best get going. Got a big game next week against Scrap Metal."

"Ooh... one of my two home turfs," said Tails. "I don't know who to root for."

"If you wanted to be more confused, there'd be a game between Scrap Metal and Mystic Ruins," Knuckles smirked.

"Yeah, thanks, because that's the existential crisis that I needed," Tails said.

Coach Kim smiled. "Thank you guys for coming and enjoying the game. It means a lot. And hey, you keep on saving the city, and who knows? We might give you lifetime seats at our games."

"Ooh... I like the sound of that," said Sonic.

After that, they all shook hands before leaving and going their separate ways, with Sonic and his group going back out to the front car park. Shadow grabbed his board from its spot, the locks releasing as he touched it, and the others threw their own onto the ground.

"Dammit..." said Knuckles. "We should have gotten them to sign our boards."

"Maybe," Tails shrugged. "But I think that we did well. Our shirts are covering in their signatures... I think we're good."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Knuckles playfully lamented. "So, what's the plan now? Just head back home?"

"I mean, if you want to, that's fine," Sonic said.

"Why would I not want to?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah... are you hiding something?" asked Tails.

"Eh, only a question that could decide his future," Sonic said.

"Whoa, wait," Shadow said. "I'm missing something... is this why you took so long in the bathroom?"

"Wait, I still don't get it," Tails said.

Sonic turned to Knuckles. "Should I tell them?"

The red echidna sighed, reaching behind himself to show off the box which contained the ring. "I'm going to ask Shade to marry me."

"Oh, congratulations!" Tails said. "That's awesome, dude!"

"I know, but... I have no idea how to go about it," said Knuckles.

"It's like I said earlier," Sonic said, "just be you. Let your heart speak, not your head."

"Well... I am better at using my heart than my head," said Knuckles. "I guess it makes sense."

"Hey, you'll get it," Sonic said. "Trust me."

They all then actually started their ride, and Tails spoke next. "What about everyone else's plans?"

Sonic shrugged. "I was thinking about spending the night over at Amy's. It is the weekend, and it won't take long to hop over to the Midnight Oil to get her."

"Shade's probably finished her one beer already," Knuckles said. "Which sucks, because she might not be sober enough to say yes to my proposal."

"It's just one drink," Tails said. "I'm pretty sure that she'll be okay."

The red echidna smiled. "What about you? What are your plans?"

"Go check over the files at our base," Tails said. "Assuming that I'm going to be alone, Cosmo's going to come over. Even if I weren't along, she's still going to come over."

"Not a bad way to spend your evening," said Sonic, turning to Shadow. "And as for you?"

"Well, I think the first part of any of those plans is to not wear these jerseys," said Shadow.

"I respectfully disagree as I think that they'll work, but that's fair," said Sonic.

"As for my plan, just go to Maria's for the night." The black and red hedgehog shrugged. "Just to sit and calm down."

"It's nice that things are looking up for you," Tails said. "The fact that Maria is getting out more now is no doubt thanks to you, and the same could be said about you for her."

Shadow smiled. "I can't fault you there. Even back when we shared a room at the academy, you were always quite astute."

"Astute I may be, but I don't have the eyes of a freaking hawk," Tails chuckled.

They all shared in the laughter and drove back home, putting their jerseys away as promised. Tails went to the communications room to look over the files as promised, waiting patiently as he heard the others come in to the room.

"All right, we're off," Sonic said. "You're good to hold down the fort while we're gone, yeah?"

"Yes, oh fearless leader," Tails replied drily. "Seriously, things will be fine. And I promise that me and Cosmo won't make a lot of mess around the base."

"Good," the blue hedgehog nodded. He walked over to share a fist bump with his friend. "See you tomorrow, dude."

Tails nodded, waving as Sonic left before turning back to the computer. "Henry and Kitty Lang... filed away... boom." He sighed and laid back, waiting for his phone to ring, and he smiled as he did. "Hey there, beautiful."

"I'm just outside," Cosmo said. "Would you buzz me in?"

Tails reached over to press a button on his computer. "And... buzz."

Cosmo walked in, hugging Tails from behind as he was still sat down. "So... want to get to our plans?"

"Damn right..."

Meanwhile, Knuckles took his board over to Shade's house, the ride being a smooth one. He felt the ring in his back pocket, and it suddenly felt heavier as a bunch of doubts raced back and forth in his head, causing him to question it.

"This'll be fine..." he tried telling himself. "The worst thing that she can do is say no, and that'll be fine. We can carry on as we are and I'll ask again later... but what if she still declines... ah, I can't take it!" He found himself at the front of their house and used his spare key to get in. "Shade? You here, babe?"

"I'm in the living room!" Shade said.

Knuckles went over, seeing his girlfriend sat with her legs up on the couch. He smiled and sat with her, lifting her legs up on to his lap. "Hey, beautiful..." he said.

"Hey, beautiful to you too," Shade smiled. "You have fun at the game?"

"I did. Did you have fun getting sloshed and watching the game?"

"Yeah, I got so hammered on my one beer," Shade winked. "I might not even have any inhibitions." She leaned up and kissed his neck.

"Oh, yeah?" Knuckles asked, moaning a bit.

"Yeah..." Shade smiled. "Whatever you ask me, I might not be able to say no..."

"Ooh... that means you don't get to complain after my usual twenty second lasting time," Knuckles smirked.

Shade giggled. "True. But I do have a question for you first..."

"No, I don't have all the Goliaths signatures on my jersey and neither do the other guys and we totally didn't leave them at our base to make you not feel so jealous," Knuckles said, quickly than he thought that he would.

"It... wasn't that, but shit, really? If anything, now I'm even more jealous that you're not wearing it," Shade playfully pouted.

"Dammit, you used your feminine wiles to coax it out of me," the red echidna smiled.

"Hey, whatever works," Shade winked, sitting back a bit. "No, my question is, what the heck were you and the guys whispering about? And also, what took you so long in the bathroom? I assume that that's where you went."

Knuckles sagged a bit. "It is where I went. I went there to do some thinking. It was about the only place that I could do any thinking in an arena that big."

"Is thinking another term for a really big poop?" Shade asked.

Knuckles laughed. "No. I was actually doing some thinking."

"Good God," said the peach echidna. "That's when you know that something's gone wrong."

Her male counterpart smiled. "Well... this was the good kind of thinking. The kind where I figured out where my future is and who it's with."

He then moved Shade's legs off of his lap and got down on one knee, reaching in to his pocket to take out the box. He opened it up, showing the ring to Shade, who suddenly sat up, her eyes wide as her hands covered her mouth in startled surprise.

"Shade... I love you. So much. I want to spend my life with you. Every time that I see my future, you're in it, and I don't ever want you to not be in it." He cleared his throat. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes..."

"Yes?"

Shade smiled, getting on her knees so that she was eye level with Knuckles. "Yes!"

The red echidna put the ring on her finger, and smiled as the two shared a deep, loving kiss. There was something suddenly special Knuckles about kissing the girl of his dreams now that they were engaged, and more special things came later on, with the two laid back in bed, the sheets being their only clothing as Shade slept and Knuckles looked at her sleeping form, the ring shining brightly on her finger.

"Well... goodnight," he said. He leaned over and kissed her hand, then her cheek, before snuggling up with her in bed. "Here's to our future..."

* * *

 **Aw... a nice happy chapter. See? It's not all stylised violence. Believe it or not, I actually wanted to use an ice hockey scene for the first story, but never found time to put it in there, so here it be. I hope that you enjoyed it, and I'll see you for the third chapter. Take care, and stay tuned.**


	3. Happy To Help

Green Hill Penitentiary. The prison that housed some of the most dangerous criminals, as well as some petty crooks who had already done time at the Green Hill Police Department. The inmates ranged from murderers and rapists to purse snatchers and common muggers, as well as everything in between. And, currently, a couple of them were having an argument.

"You know, the sooner that we do our good work, the sooner that we get out of here," said one inmate.

"I know that, but I don't give a fuck," said the other. "We need to get out of here. I've got kids!"

"I do too! And I'll see them a lot sooner if I'm no hanging around with fucking lunatics like you!"

"Who are you calling a lunatic?"

"Well, gee, I don't know. Maybe it's the ten counts of aggravated assault? Call me crazy!"

"All right, you're crazy! It was twenty counts, and you know it!"

"Do you two mind?" said a third voice. "I'm trying to catch up on my sleep here. It's very hard to do when you two keep yammering on."

"Oh, shut up, you has-been crime lord," said the first guy.

"Yeah, what kind of moron doesn't accept the special treatment?" said the second.

"The kind that isn't a moron," said the voice. "If I got what I wanted, they'd be watching me every minute of every day. Believe it or not, it's a smarter strategy than you might think, as is not talking next to someone who could kill you both whenever he wanted."

"Then why haven't you?"

"Because, to be fair, I'm quite enjoying my time here. I'd enjoy it more if you two didn't keep waking people up before we had to be awake."

As Nack said that, a rattling sound was heard as a prison baton was dragged along several cell cages, leading up to the source of the confrontation. At each rattle, it got closer and louder, and more inmates woke up, either annoyed or still sleepy as the guard spoke.

"Rise and shine, ass-holes!" the guard said, with a thick Southern American accent. He soon approached the last cell, not even bothering to rattle against it. His face was somewhat grizzled, with a distinctive burn scar on the right side of his face that was barely seen under his thick ginger beard. His bald head gleamed a bit in the early morning light. "Up early as always, Nack."

The purple weasel smiled, still laid in his bed. He wore prison-issue clothes, which were all light blue with a white vest underneath. Nack's shirt in particular was done up fully, all the way to the collar buttons, and his sleeves were covering his arms as well. A pair of black boots finished the look of the garb.

"Well, what do you expect after sleeping next to those two?" Nack asked, pointing to the cell wall next to him.

"Not a lot that I can do when it comes to them," the guard shrugged. "You seem to have built up a good rapport with most people except for them. If you want to move cells, just say the word."

"Hey, Gerren!" called an inmate from a far away cell. "Maybe you should just get on your knees and suck his dick right now!"

"Funny!" the guard said. "I was about to make you do the same to your bunk-mate!"

Nack shook his head. "Look, I appreciate the offer, but I'm at peace with my current situation. I made some fucking stupid choices, so now I have to deal with that."

"Well, you don't go making any more now," said Gerren. He then walked away, rattling his baton across the cages again before putting a whistle in to his mouth. "All right, get up and move! You've got breakfast to get! It tastes like shit, but that's what you deserve!"

As he finished his sentence, an alarm buzzed, and all of the cell doors opened up. Nack stepped out in time with the rest, smiling and inhaling what little air was around as he looked over the insides of Green Hill Penitentiary, much like he did every morning.

The walls were a pasty white, a stark contrast to most other high-tech buildings. There were several floors with catwalks, which had at least twenty cells on either side of the catwalks, with each floor also having its own food hall, gym, and community areas for people to work around the prison. There were powerful cameras all around as well. Even if the aesthetics of the place weren't much to look at, the gadgetry on display was nothing short of top notch.

"It never ceases to amaze me," Nack said.

"Well, you've come out to see this shit-hole for the better part of a year," said Gerren.

"A year and a half," Nack corrected. "And, yes, that's true. But I like the fact that the inside doesn't necessarily signify what others see on the outside. Just because it looks like it does, it still has a lot going for it."

"And that's why you're on your best behaviour, right?" asked the guard.

"Of course," Nack said. "Why would I not be?"

Gerren chuckled that one off, and led his troop of prisoners to the food hall for their breakfast, which was scrambled eggs and bacon. Nack was admittedly surprised at this, and he had to check to make sure that everyone else had the same stuff, which they did. Now feeling more comfortable with that fact, he sat down at one of the many rounded tables, mostly alone until a pair of inmates came up to him.

"Hey, Nack?"

"That is my name," the purple weasel replied. "Take care how you say it."

"Um... I don't..."

Nack laughed, cutting the man off. "See, you know how powerful I am on the outside, and yet you also know how badly I could mess things up for you in here if I so desired. So, when you address me, your tone of voice needs to be just spot on. Do not talk to me as a friend, and don't be too formal. If you don't learn that lesson, then so help me, I will make you choke on your own vomit after force-feeding you these very delicious scrambled eggs. Are we clear?"

"Jesus... good rapport my ass..." said the second inmate.

Nack looked up at them. "Oh, I'm sorry. I mistook you for the two ass-holes who woke me up earlier than usual this morning. Turns out that you're a different pair of ass-holes." He gestured. "Have a seat. Eat with me."

They seemed reluctant, but eventually took their seats. "So... rumour is you can get stuff for us?"

Nack sighed. "I've been here for a year and a half already, and I plan on living out the rest of my sentence here," he said. "And I do that by not giving people in here any help. So, whatever you two so desire, find someone else to sell it to you. Or, better yet, get it yourself. See how far you get."

"Come on, what's so bad about this place?"

Nack shrugged. "The fact that it's just another normal prison. Nothing exciting happens." He shook his head. "This isn't a prison. If it were, you'd see the guards breaking up fights once a week. You'd see them trying to crack down on people trying to slip drugs and other contraband under the radar. But you can't, because the place is so tightly wound."

"Well, say that it goes off," said the first guy. "What happens then?"

Nack smiled. "Then, maybe shit would get done. But until then, I'd rather enjoy the boredom. The sooner that I get out of here, the sooner that I can cause trouble again."

"Hey, the whole point of prison is to teach you not to cause trouble," said a guard walking over.

"True," Nack said. "But I'm not the best learner when it comes to that stuff. And when you run your own prison, you start to see the flaws in other prisons. This place looks polished, but it's just to hide how closely you're watching us. You don't let us do anything, and it's so very frustrating."

The guard shook his head, but couldn't help what came out of his mouth next. "So, what about Westopolis made it such a special prison?"

The purple weasel grinned. "The fact that it had fewer guards, floors, and cells, and was still twice the prison that this was. Westopolis prison was a fucking institution, and where do I wind up when I'm caught by four pricks who aren't even cops? I wind up here, where they're not even watching over me, and their leader comes over to say hi every now and then."

"Well, you're very lucky to have wound up here," said the guard. "And you're very lucky to be eating here, not to mention eating something that fancy. If it were up to us, your head would have been caved in long, long ago."

"Hmm... I doubt that," Nack said. "See, the guards at Westopolis never lied to me. As corrupt as they were, they knew how to do their fucking jobs, unlike you and your pathetic, broke-dick, useless lot."

"Hey, watch your mouth," the guard said, stepping forward.

Nack grinned. "No. I'm going to prove my point. And I'd very much like to get back to it without any further interruptions." He cleared his throat. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The guards at Westopolis. They were dirty, greedy bastards, but they were honest about it. They were honest about the fact that they wanted to watch me rot for what I did. And when I took that shit-hole over, they were more than happy to work for me. So, when I take this shit-hole over, I wonder... where will a low level grunt with a hate boner for me wind up on the totem pole?"

The guard sighed. "I'd never work for some monster like you."

"A monster?" Nack smiled. "I'm trying to bring a level of class back to the world of crime. And the longer that I'm in here, the more that the world is neglected of that."

"I think that the world can take its chances."

Nack shook his head, going back to his food and the other two, who knew better by this point than to argue further. They ate their food quietly, and Nack offered to put all of their trays away before he felt a tap on his shoulder, turning to see the guard from earlier.

"Oh, can I help you?"

The guard cocked a fist back, slugging Nack down to the ground hard. "Do you understand what you are in here, inmate?"

"Well, judging by the final word in that sentence, it doesn't sound nice," Nack replied drily.

The guard landed another shot, this time feeling a crack under his knuckle. "I want you to take a look around, you son of a bitch."

Nack did so, seeing a group of fellow prisoners stood around him, and some other guards as well, preparing their batons just in case. "Oh, look. They're proving my point by not doing anything." Nack turned back to the guard who knocked him down. "See? You're all fickle. You try to be good people, but let me ask, what's so righteous about watching even your most hated enemy suffer?"

"There's not much righteous about it, but it is pretty fun." The guard landed another shot, this time bruising Nack's let cheek. "See? That felt good, didn't it?"

Nack kept smiling. "Just as much for you as it does for me. And to think, I have a visit from my blue friend later."

"I'd try to keep your face pretty, but I can't guarantee anything."

"Well, hell, this just got a lot more interesting..."

The guard picked Nack up, and two others came over to keep the weasel in place. The prison guard landed several blows to Nack's face and torso, even a few knees as well, with Nack's face starting to get bloody and some blood spilling from his mouth at the gut shots.

After a solid few minutes of this, another bell went off, and Nack was on the ground recovering his breath as he felt more blood in his mouth. He turned his head and spat at the guards while the walked away before looking to see a hand offering help. Nack reached up to smack the hand aside, getting up on his own. He went over to one of the other dinner tables to grab a napkin that someone left behind.

"Eurgh... that's a pretty big mess there..." He blew his nose in to the tissue, more blood shooting from his nose and mouth. "Well... this certainly isn't going to look good on my review when I see the warden." A bell then went off, and Nack smiled. "Speaking of which..."

Gerren came up the stairs. "Come on, you know the drill."

"It's become quite the routine," Nack said. "I wake up, I get lunch, I antagonise a guard and accuse them for lacking integrity or aggressiveness, and they beat the shit out of me. I'm trying to figure out which part of that plan keeps failing."

"It's a mystery to me," said Gerren. "Still, the medicinal paste clears you up real good. Anyway, let's go and see the big boss."

Nack nodded, following closely behind the prison guard. The warden's office wasn't too far away, but the walk there was slow, if mostly because more guards were watching Nack to make sure that nothing got out of hand due to what happened only mere minutes ago.

Gerren reached to knock on the door. "Mr. Schneider, Nack's here to see you."

"Wunderbar! Please come in!"

Gerren smiled at Nack. "He's in a good mood."

Nack shook his head. "Lucky me..."

The prison guard then opened the door up, and both he and Nack entered the Warden's room. It was quite small, but still easy enough to manoeuvre around in, with a desk containing files, a laptop, and other stuff in the centre. Sat behind it was the owner of the prison, Hermann Schneider. His receding silver hair and dark goatee formed around a kind, if ageing face, as the man was well in to his late 60's.

As for the rest of the room, it fit the aesthetic of the prison outside. It was painted well, had security cameras just in case, and had a few guards inside, although that was more for protecting Schneider than intimidating Nack. Behind the warden himself were a pair of bookshelves, a mixture of paperbacks and hardbacks, all read well but treated with care.

"You know that we have those video books, right?" Nack asked. "You can watch them and get the full book experience like a movie, but without cutting out any of the good or important shit?"

"I do know that, but I've always liked the feel of paper," said Schneider. "Those who listen to audio books or watch the video versions lack the imagination to come up with the scenarios with their own minds and eyes. Even as I'm pushing 70, I still enjoy picturing what it's like."

Nack smiled. "That is very heartwarming, but I'm guessing that you didn't call me up here to talk about books, right?"

The warden sighed. "Ja, that is true. This is... well, not the first altercation since you arrived, but the first one in a few days, which was not long after another one before that... Your good behaviour points have gone down, as of light. Do you really find the prison so boring that you must entertain yourself by being so antagonistic?"

"Yes, and yes, and yes again," Nack said. "I appreciate how nice you are, but the truth is, what I said about those guards applies to even you, sir. You're just enjoying watching me squirm. And I never even got started on half of the bad things that I wanted to do."

"Well, the best way to stop a criminal is to get to him before he spreads like an infection," said Schneider. "You may have a good relationship with some prisoners, and even a few guards, but let me assure you that this is purely business. I am not your friend here. None of the guards are your friends here, not even Gerren."

"Is that true?" Nack turned to face the guard in question. "Gerren, is that true?"

"Hell, I've beaten you up a few times myself. Just doing my job," Gerren shrugged.

"I feel like I've been stabbed in the back somehow," Nack said. "Which is remarkable given that I've never met the bad end of a prison shiv."

"And thanks to people like me making sure that men like my guards watch over that kind of activity, you never have to worry about that," the warden smiled.

"That's a shame," Nack said. "There's something about the adrenaline rush of it all. Heck, I'd take almost getting murdered if it meant that I got to have some fun in this place. I guess that's maybe why I've been letting myself get beaten up so much. Maybe it wasn't just to prove my point after all. Maybe it's just because I'm so fucking sick and so fucking tired of being so fucking bored."

"Well... you didn't have to swear so much," Schneider said. "But if you want excitement, I could put you in a hotbox. Or perhaps a freezer. Or you could be a dummy for target practise, with rubber bullets and ballistics, of course. If you want special treatment of any kind, then all that you need to do is ask."

Nack sighed. "I'm sort of considering it, but... no. Just because I'm bored doesn't mean that I'm willing to trust the most powerful person here just to get a leg up on others."

"Of course. That was never your style, was it?" Schneider smiled. "You've always been a lone wolf in that regard, but if you need help with friends, then you won't hesitate to hire some fellow criminals with similar motives."

Nack chuckled a bit. "I won't. And I won't stop until I expose the very system that good people like you try to protect. The shield that police officers wear is just another excuse to exercise their power, to beat on people like me."

"Well, judging from what I heard earlier, you seemed to enjoy it," Schneider said. "But I'm guess that that wasn't due to any deep-seated masochistic tendencies, now, was it?"

"And right on the money again," Nack smiled. "I like getting beat up because it's not that any sense is being knocked into me. No, not at all. It's more that the justice is being sweated out of the people hurting me. It seems counter-intuitive, but one day, this will all be exposed. And when I get out of here, I'm going to spread more proof that the just are equally as corrupt as the unjust."

"You know, you make a very good point," the warden nodded. "Hmm... you have an hour before Sonic comes over, yes?"

"Yeah," the purple weasel.

"Fantastic!" Schneider smiled. "To the yards with you. Rock duty. Get cracking, as they say."

Nack stood up to leave. "Yes, warden."

"Wait," said Schneider. He reached into his drawer and got out a small vial. "Some paste for your wounds."

Nack smiled, taking it, but putting it in his pocket. "I'll save it for after my talk with Sonic."

"Fair enough," said Schneider. "Gerren, make sure that Nack gets to where he needs to go."

"Yes, sir," said the Southern guard.

Nack turned and waited as Gerren and some other guards led him out of the room. They walked him down the stairs, as the yards were all outside. Rock cracking wasn't so that said rocks could be used for the prison, but rather was donated to better causes, such as helping build schools and the like. And Nack gave credit for that, at least, as much as he saw the hypocrisy in everything else.

"May I ask you something?" Gerren spoke as they reached the bottom floor.

"Sure," Nack said.

"Why do you insist on proving your point? That the judicial system is never fully effective when you have charges for all sorts of heinous crimes?"

The purple weasel let out a cold laugh. "The point of me pointing it out isn't to benefit me. I know that I'm too far gone. No amount of counselling, or beatings, or being shot, stabbed, whatever it is, is ever going to shake that side of me. I bring it up because there are people out there who have a shitty hand from the start. I did, but I turned it against others, I got my own back, and now I'm one of the most notorious bastards in all of Mobius. I merely want others like me to follow that example, but to try and do good things. I know people who do bad things, and those bad things are done to help me, of course. But they're also done to benefit others. I like to try and think that I'm doing the same by giving those less fortunate than I such opportunities in the first place."

"Wow. That was... quite a lot to digest there," said Gerren.

"Well, it's not the first time I've said it to people. I've had a lot of practise," said Nack.

"And you're about to put that practise into cracking some stones," said Gerren. "Get on outside."

Nack was pushed further forwards, and he and the guards guiding him were soon outside. It was quite sunny this earlier in the morning, and several prisoners were already using tools, such as shovels and pickaxes, to help move rocks, with some burlier inmates helping to shift them onto a cart.

"You know the drill," said Gerren. "Grab something and get to work."

"Yes, sir," Nack said. He went out and grabbed a pickax, joining the other prisoners who were busy working.

"Man, I can't believe that the big guy upstairs has us doing this shit..." said a prisoner. "None of the people who get these rocks ever thank us."

"Yeah, but look who just walked on over," said another. "Nack probably got some free time. Whatever beating he got, he probably deserved it."

Nack smiled. "Nice to see that you all think so highly of me. Now, shut up and get to work. I don't want to be out here any more than you guys want me to be out here." He shook his head. "For someone who has a good rapport, there sure are a lot of people who hate me. And I'm not just talking about the gunmen that are ready just in case."

"Hey, get to work!" yelled a guard.

"Okay, okay," Nack sighed. "Jesus."

He lifted his pickax and swung it down, cracking some rock with it. He cleared the rock away when it was split, and then did the same to a few more. After a while, he noticed a pleasant sound in the clang, and then shook his chains in time with another prisoner working.

"Hmm... interesting..." He did it a few more times to get the rhythm right before he started singing. "Little one, got to heed my warning, devil is kind. He's coming early morning, devil is fine." Nack noticed others watching and he continued. "He goes by many names."

"Devil is kind!" the prisoners sang.

"We're going to go home to the flames!"

Clank.

"Devil is fine!"

"He's going to forgive my sin!"

Clank.

"Devil is kind!"

Nack smiled, singing the rest of the song with the prisoners that knew it, making the process of working a lot easier. After they were done singing, the rest of the work went silently before another alarm sounded off, to which the prisoners instantly put down their tools.

"All right, single file!" said Gerren. "Visiting hours don't last long, so make 'em count when you get in there!"

The prisoners walked in single file, as promised, and Nack was a bit relieved to see Sonic. He was led to the visiting room, seeing some other tables with other prisoners connecting with their family and/or friends, and he sat still as he saw the door open up.

"Ah... there he is," Nack said. "Just the man that I hoped to see."

"Jesus," said Sonic as he walked over. "What the hell happened to your face?"

"I had a little disagreement with how the guards did their duties," said Nack, shrugging. "Same as always."

"Don't you usually have some paste with you to heal it up?" Sonic asked.

"Why, Sonic, I didn't know that you were this good at faking how much you cared," Nack said, pulling the bottle out. "Yes, I do. Just haven't used it yet."

"Let me guess," the blue hedgehog said. "To prove another silly point in a long winded way?"

"I would, but I'm a bit tired from working so hard. Plus, you already know the story. Everyone here knows the story. If I started telling it again, then I'd probably get beaten up again, and I don't really want that."

"Then maybe you should learn to shut up," said Sonic.

"Ooh, I would, but something tells me that you're going to like what I have to say," Nack said. "How'd the bust go at the museum?"

"It went pretty well," said Sonic. "It was pretty close near the end, but we got our people."

"That's good," said Nack. "The Lang siblings have been a pain in my ass for quite some time now."

"Well... without your tip, we never would have found them," Sonic said.

"Damn right, you wouldn't have," said Nack. "So... where are they?"

"Still locked up at the department. Questioning and all that stuff," Sonic said. "You should be familiar with the process by this point."

"I am, but I just thought that I'd ask," Nack said.

"I need to know... was it Fokus in that urn?" asked Sonic. "We haven't cracked it open yet, and the guys at Green Hill are trying to crack it."

"I don't know," said Nack. "And believe me, if I knew, I'd tell you. All I know is that the urn's old and tough to break, and the brother and sister weren't even supposed to be pushing where they were going."

"And where might that be?" asked Sonic.

"Scrap Metal was the last that I heard. The location might have changed, but it might be good to check there first. There's a few abandoned places up there where you could find them, but I don't know an exact location. You'll have to get that out of the Langs."

Sonic looked at Nack with a raised eyebrow. "What are you getting out of this?"

Nack smiled. "Nothing more than the mere satisfaction of helping Mobius' finest stop things that shouldn't be happening in the first place."

"So, this does benefit you at the end of the day, doesn't it?" the blue hedgehog smiled.

"A little bit, yes. They weren't even supposed to be selling in Green Hill, let alone trying to pass drugs under the radar," said Nack. "That wasn't a part of our deal."

"Well, what about our deal? Are you willing to tell me where your main lieutenants are? Specifically, a snake in the grass?"

"Ah, I see what you did there," Nack said. "But the answer is no."

"All right, well, what if asking the siblings doesn't work out?" asked Sonic.

"Then you'll have to see about your man on the street," Nack said. "That stupid idiot... the only reason he's alive is because I'm leaving him be."

"Why is that?"

Nack shrugged. "He doesn't try to encroach on my deals or territories. He stays out of my way, I stay out of his."

"Right, because if he got in your way, he'd be the first to die, right?"

"Not exactly," Nack said. "If he got in my way, I'd offer him a job. If he accepts, then he works for me, but very low in the food chain. If not, then I kill him. If he says yes but stabs me in the back later on, then I kill him."

Sonic smiled. "I appreciate your candour, but... I still don't like you."

"I know," Nack said. "I don't like you either. It's hard to like someone who puts me in a place so boring as this where I get beaten up every day."

"And it's hard to like someone who spreads drugs, war, and sex all around," Sonic said. "And that's just the parts that you're willing to tell me."

"Oh?" Nack chuckled. "You think that you have something more?"

"I do," Sonic said. "I know that you only sell out the people that you need to. You sold the Lang siblings out because you knew that they were pushing Fokus, even if you didn't tell us where they got it from." He paused. "Then there were the Purple Weasel fanatics who ran some arms around, but didn't know what they were doing, and in the process they made you look bad. There was that one hooker who claimed that she worked for you, even though she didn't recognise you when I showed her that picture of you. She just knew your name."

"And that is just in Green Hill," Nack smiled. "I've helped you stop bad shit in Star Light, Aqua Lake, Scrap Metal, Angel Wing, Marble Stone... everywhere. A year and half of this shit, and you refuse to out and out trust me?"

"All of those were to help you and your three lackeys back in Westopolis," Sonic said. "I know that you're up to something. I'm going to find out what. I'm going to find out why you're getting these people out of the way. And when I do, I'm coming straight back to you."

"Oh, we both know that you'll be back to me before then," Nack smiled. "And, as always, I'll be happy to help... officer."

Sonic shook his head. "You know, as a freelancer, I could easily just not take this mission, right?"

"I do know that," said Nack. "But we both know that you're going to take it anyway, as limited as my help is. I never got a lot of work done in Scrap Metal, so I don't know my way around it as well as I do other places."

"Well, your help is appreciated," Sonic said. "And, when we crack that urn, then you'd better hope that there's Fokus in it. If not, and it's just other drugs, then we still win. I see that as beneficial to the good guys."

"Trying to see life my way, huh?" Nack asked. "How does it feel?"

"Honestly... not great," Sonic said. "I don't mind it if it's for others, but for myself? For my friends? Just doesn't feel right. I'll leave the slimy feeling of it to slime-balls like you."

"And I'll leave you to go out and save the day, oh fearless leader," Nack smiled.

Sonic shook his head, but reached over to shake Nack's hand. It wasn't odd by this stage, considering the time that Nack had been giving Sonic and the freelancers, but still, it felt strange for Sonic to shake the hand of someone who he despised and knew despised him back.

"I'll see you whenever the next mission is over," Sonic said.

"Don't take too long now," Nack replied. "I might get bored again."

Sonic then left the prison, and Nack was guided back to his cell. True to his word, he went to the mirror that he had, applying the paste onto his face to recover his wounds. He then looked around to make sure that nobody saw him, and he opened his mouth, reaching under his tongue to pull out a small needle.

He couldn't hide his small smile at this, "Very good... very good indeed..."

He thought back to his fight earlier, counting himself lucky that he didn't spit the needle out when he spat blood at the guards. He then put the needle back into his mouth and carefully hid it inside of his cheek, doing his best not to accidentally swallow it down as he did so.

"Nack?" said Gerren, rattling against the purple weasel's cage.

"Yeah?"

"Are... you okay?"

"Just had more swelling there than I thought," Nack said, using some paste leftover on his finger. "Should go down soon."

"Good to hear," said Gerren. "It's gym time. Get your ass over there."

"Yeah, sure. Just let me clean myself up, and I'll be right over," Nack said.

"Don't take too long."

Nack wiped over his face, checking over it one last time before following the prison guard to the gym on his floor.

* * *

 **And here is chapter three! And that's the Christmas present all done and dusted for you! Three chapters, and more will come next year. But I still have a one-shot to work on before this year ends, then Foxhunt and Love And War... this should tide you folks all over, yeah? Yeah. I hope that you're enjoying so far, and I can't wait to write more of this. Also, props to whoever knows the song that Nack "sings". I changed some of the lyrics around so that I don't get sued. Anyway, until next time, take care, and stay tuned.**


	4. Gun Shy

Sonic hopped off of his board as he reached his headquarters. He got another look over how the building had changed, little as it was, over the time of him and his friends being freelancers, and he smiled a bit to himself as he walked inside.

"Ah, there he is!" said Knuckles from the kitchen. "Hey, could you pass me a banana?"

"Sure." Sonic reached for the bowl next to him, peeling the banana and throwing it over to Knuckles, who cut it in half in mid-air, causing both halves to fall into one blender. "Nice one!"

"Thanks," said Knuckles. "I watch a lot of Dude Perfect. You want a breakfast smoothie?"

"Depends on what's in it this time," Sonic smiled, walking over.

"Banana, strawberries, milk, obviously, and a bit of kiwi. It adds well to the flavour."

"I'll believe that when I'm drinking it and not throwing it up later," said Sonic.

"When have you had reason to doubt my culinary skills?" Knuckles asked.

"The time that you almost literally stabbed Shadow in the back because you weren't looking where you were going?" Sonic suggested.

"He shouldn't have been in the way."

"You asked him to help make the omelettes while you sliced the cheese. How did you forget that he was there?"

Knuckles then turned the blenders on. "Sorry! Can't hear you! I'm blending food that's going to knock your socks off!"

Sonic flipped a middle finger. "You hear that?"

"Sorry, what?"

The blue hedgehog smiled, shaking his head and going over to the living room area, where he saw Shadow. He was on his phone, video-calling with Maria, and Sonic decided to stay low, not wanting to bug his friend or butt in on the conversation.

"So, the mission was a success," Shadow said, his voice souring as he heard the blenders behind him.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" said Maria. "With you rarely spending time here... I often worry."

"I know," Shadow said. "I worry too."

Maria smiled. "Well... our anniversary is coming up soon... I was wondering if you'd want to spend time with me?"

Shadow nodded. "Y-Yes! I mean..." He cleared his throat. "Of course. I'd love that. Over the weekend?"

Maria nodded. "I'm free from work, so sure."

"Okay. It's a... date, I guess," Shadow said, turning to see Sonic. "I need to go. Work stuff."

"I can see that," said Maria. "Bye. I love you."

Shadow smiled. "Bye. I... I love you too..."

They both disconnected, and Sonic sat down next to his fellow hedgehog. "Anniversary, huh? What of?"

The black and red hedgehog sighed. "When we split from our foster family."

"Oh, those horrible people," Sonic said. "I would have thought that, with the time that you spend with Rouge in between, you would have stopped."

"I did too," Shadow smiled. "But that experience reminded us both of what's important. I didn't tell you at first, because... well, our first celebration of it was when I first got into the academy."

"But... wait... I helped sign you up," Sonic said. "Do I not get a say in the anniversary?"

"Were you ever in foster homes and discriminated against for being Mobian?"

"No..."

"Then, sadly, no."

Sonic snapped his fingers. "Well, shoot."

Shadow chuckled. "So, what's the word from Nack?"

"I want to wait for us all to gather around first before saying anything," Sonic said, turning to Knuckles. "You hear me?"

"What?!" Knuckles replied, turning the blenders off now. "Man... good thing that I did that when I did. It was going to be solid liquid soon."

Tails comes down the stairs, having freshly showered. "Hey, everyone."

"Hey," Sonic said.

Shadow smiled. "Well, looks like everyone's here."

"But only one of us brought food," Knuckles pointed out. "Or rather, cut food up, liquidised it, and is about to pour it into cups in the hopes that you'll enjoy it."

"Oh, great," said Tails, sitting down. "Another Knuckles concoction."

The red echidna ignored them as he sorted out the smoothies, walking over to hand them each a cup when they were poured. The other three understandably looked a bit concerned, but after drinking them, they were pleasantly surprised.

"Damn, that's good," said Tails.

"Told you," said Knuckles. "The kiwi really adds to it."

"I like it," Shadow said. "One of your better ideas. Resulting in less accidental almost stabbing."

"Come on, let it go..." Knuckles moped.

Sonic gulped down his too. "Okay, that's given me a lot of energy. Let's get this conversation started."

"So, what do we have?" Tails asked.

"Well, Nack pulled his usual shtick. Get in trouble, get beaten up by guards, blame the criminal justice system for being corrupt when he's being a pain in the ass, the usual," Sonic shrugged.

"That's very Nack of him," said Knuckles.

"Yes, but rarely, he didn't launch into a huge monologue this time," the blue hedgehog pointed out. "I guess that a year and a half in prison will take the wind out of your sails."

"Did he say anything about the urn?" asked Shadow.

"Not anything that we didn't know already," Sonic said. "Only one way to open it, and nobody knows how outside of a huge explosive. Or several."

"What about the key?" Knuckles asked. "I mean, the Lang siblings used a lot of fake identities, but was the key forged too?"

"I have reason to suspect that it was, considering what we were dealing with," Sonic said. "But we should head on down to the department later to check, anyway."

"Yeah, that and we need to talk to Kitty and Henry," Knuckles added on. "See what we can get out of them."

"Should that be down to us?" Tails asked. "Because I feel like the officers there are good enough to do it on their own."

"Considering how much of their workload we take on, it's funny to hear you say that," Shadow smiled.

Tails smiled back. "My bad. I forgot that we usually do almost all of their work for them."

"Anyway," Sonic continued, "that's the plan so far. Go to the department, check up on what's happening, see what we can get out of the bad guys, then go get some lunch and come back to discuss the next phase of the plan."

"Ooh, I love the next phase part," said Tails. "I get to use the fancy stuff!"

"I know you're excited, but you'll need to wait," Sonic said. "But there is one more part of the plan that we'll go over more later. Nack mentioned that the last time he heard something, it was in Scrap Metal city."

"What did he say exactly?" asked Shadow.

"That the siblings weren't supposed to be near there. That's why Nack sold them out, I think. Maybe they were meant to go somewhere else, but with the weasel locked up, they tried to pull a fast one on him."

"That'd make the most sense," Tails said. "But we'll figure out more when we leave."

"Yeah, we'd better get a move on," said Sonic. "Also, we're taking this smoothies with us. Damn, they're delicious."

As they got up, Knuckles grunted. "Fuck..."

"What?" asked Sonic.

"You said Scrap Metal, right?"

"Yeah."

"So... Ryu," Knuckles said.

"Hey, there's no need to worry. He's easy to shake down."

"The last time we saw him, he stole my credit card," Knuckles said. "He's a conman."

"Hey, it's not Sonic's fault that your biceps are bigger than your brain is," Shadow said. "The dude goes on about trying to be more honest, and we all know that it's bullshit. So... stop falling for it? He's always going to swindle at least one one of us."

"Yeah," Sonic said. "Like when he stole my new watch that Amy got me for my birthday."

"Or those blueprints to add more stuff to the building," Tails added.

"Or my phone," said Shadow. "I thought that I'd be more used to Ryu's crap by now, considering my friendship with Rouge. Boy, was I wrong."

"Yeah..." Sonic nodded. "Let's... let's just get going."

The others all agreed, grabbing what they needed and taking their boards. They glided through the streets, getting some calls of praise from people supporting them for the previous night's work, and they even did some tricks to wow the crowd too. Soon, they arrived at Green Hill Police Department, hopping up off of their boards and parking them before heading in.

"Honeys, we're home," Sonic jokingly called as they walked in.

Tails smiled as he saw Cosmo at the desk. "Hey there, beautiful."

Cosmo got out from the desk, going over to share a hug and a kiss with Tails. "Hehe... it's so good to see you!"

Tails blushed, kissing back. "I know. It feels like it's been a little while."

Cosmo smiled. "It has been... I wish Nack would give you more updates."

"That's part of why we're here," said Sonic. "Also, hi!"

"Hi!" Cosmo greeted them. "Great work last night!"

"Ah, it was just the usual," Sonic shrugged. "You're the ones who helped us with that weapons drop."

"And your new nano stuff has been so cool," Knuckles said. "Helpful, functional, and it looks freaking sweet."

"Speaking of which," said Mina, speaking up besides Cosmo, "you need to go and talk to Charmy and the others. They've been working on some new weapon for the hover-boards."

"Will do," said Sonic. "Is everyone here okay?"

"Well, the huge assault from the press hasn't happened yet, so we're dreading it still," said Cosmo. "Unless you guys want to stick around for the interview, that is?"

"It is tempting, but we've got another job, and we need to get other stuff done here first," Knuckles said, turning behind him. He caught a glimpse of a boom microphone. "Hmm... damned vultures..."

Tails smiled at Cosmo. "You'll like this one."

Cosmo watched curiously as Knuckles stormed out of the building, catching up to the person with the boom mic. He grabbed his collar, dragging him along the floor with little effort until he got back to the base, setting the man on his feet on the ground.

"What brings you here?" Knuckles asked.

The man seemed nervous. "I was... trying to investigate..."

"Investigate what?" Sonic asked.

"If... you guys were coming back... I saw you on your way to the building..."

Sonic sighed. "No, we're not coming back to work as police officers. We just happen to help them a lot."

"Then what about the reports about Nack?" he asked.

"Christ alive, how new to this are you?" Shadow asked. "We're using Nack for information. That's it. He's in prison, where he belongs. It's only us using Nack for that, and neither Green Hill, Star Light, or any other police department has a hand in it. They're doing what they can, as are we."

The operator gulped. "Oh..."

"You were right," Cosmo said. "I did like that."

"It's about to get better," Knuckles said, picking the man up. He opened the door and turned his arms, ready to throw him out only to shift and put him on the ground normally before speaking. "We know that the press doesn't come around here until later, but you must be one of those early starters, eh?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Then please, just leave," Knuckles said.

"I'm sorry..."

"Hey, it'll be..." Knuckles stopped as he saw a couple of distinctive marks on the man's neck. "Fine..."

"Th-Thank you!"

Sonic walked out as the operator ran away, seeing Knuckles standing still. "You okay, dude?"

The red echidna shook his head. "No. I think that guy might have been using. I don't know what, though."

"How do you mean?"

"I saw a couple of marks on his neck. That could have been Fokus, but we can't tell."

Sonic nodded. "Hey, we'll deal with him when we deal with Ryu. Let's get back inside. We've got people waiting."

Knuckles nodded, and headed back inside with Sonic. The others joined them, Tails kissing Cosmo on the cheek before leaving her back to her work, and they took the elevator up to the third floor, making their way over to the meeting room quickly. They walked in, seeing all those that were usually there again, with Nicole, Lupe, and Simian sat down while Avery and Ash made a presentation to give an update.

"Ah, there they are!" said Avery. "The heroes of the hour!"

"Eh, it was mostly last night," said Tails as they all sat down. "What have you got for us so far on the jar?"

"I wish that I had anything. My best men have been trying to crack a sort of code about it, but we may have to resort to explosives," Avery admitted.

"Well, maybe it's not that bad," said Ash. "Maybe Tails could take a crack at it."

"Whoa, whoa," Tails said. "I mean, I'm good with computers. But I'm no hacker."

"And besides," said Sonic, "how do we know that it has a code? The only two ways we knew about opening it were the key or blowing it up, but the key was a red herring, so that really just leaves us with blowing it up."

"True," said Ash, "but I ran some scans on the urn, and there's a code hidden. Three digits."

Tails sighed. "I hate it when Nack gets smart on us..."

"I knew he was holding out something," Knuckles said.

"There's a possibility that he didn't know about the code," Sonic said. "The dude wasn't even sure if it was Fokus in the urn, and it wasn't even supposed to be going where it was going."

"Which is where, exactly?" asked Simian.

"Scrap Metal. Nack thinks that it might have shifted since then."

"Which is another reason why you're here, right?" Lupe asked. "To go and talk to the Lang siblings?"

"That's the hope," said Sonic. "We're going to try and get whatever we need out of them."

"Wait, I just thought," Shadow said. "If they were trying to get it to Scrap Metal, why were they in Green Hill?"

"Apparently, they were selling stuff. I guess that if what was in the urn was good enough here, it was good enough for Scrap Metal." Sonic smirked. "Unfortunately, they didn't get the chance to find out."

"But we will soon," said Shadow. "What about you guys?"

"Besides dealing with the press, we haven't gotten a lot," said Avery. "I mean, except for the evidence and culprits that we got last night with you doing most of the work."

"Hey, it's a group effort. We all lend a hand, we all win," Sonic said.

"Speaking of groups and the press," Knuckles said, "you had a guy with a boom mic earlier, trying to pick up on stuff. I caught him, and he had some marks on his neck. Like, drug marks. Maybe Fokus ones."

"That is strange," said Avery. "We've gotten nothing about that before."

"Well, we'll ask the Lang siblings if they know anything first, then we'll go to Scrap Metal," said Sonic. "Ask our man on the street if he knows anything."

"Maybe it was before the urn," said Knuckles. "Maybe they sold before they got a hold of that thing."

"Nah, there's no way that a pair of identity thieves could have gotten their hands on a drug like that so quickly," said Tails. "Moving around as much as they do, I don't know how they would have sold anything."

"Well, they were under those fake names for a while before we got to them," said Shadow. "Could have been before we started looking."

"All right, we'll ask when we get down there," Sonic said, turning to Avery. "You see him again, you tell us, just in case."

"What'd he look like?" asked Lupe.

"He was a human, white skin, dark hair, short beard, nice looking brown suit, and the marks in his neck," said Knuckles, getting a stare or two. "What? I'm not a super detective, but I notice things sometimes."

Sonic smiled, looking at Avery. "So, with that info, you'll let us know, yeah?"

"I will," said Avery. "I'll send out a call to Dingo too. See if he gets that sort of stuff over Star Light. It's less likely to happen over there, but that doesn't mean that it never happens."

"Speaking of which, you guys catch the game last night?" Knuckles asked.

"I still haven't," said Avery.

"I have!" said Ash. "I won't spoil much, but damn, there was some good fights."

"Indeed there was," Knuckles said. "Also, minor note compared to all else that has happened, but guess which red echidna has two thumbs and proposed to his girlfriend last night?"

"Ooh, I know the answer!" said Sonic. He got behind Knuckles, controlling his arms and playing with the hands to point two thumbs at the echidna in question.

"That's amazing news!" said Lupe. "I'm so happy for you!"

"We'd best be invited," Ash joked.

"Ah, that is good," Simian smiled. "Who have you got as the best man?"

Sonic then grabbed Knuckles thumb and pointed it at himself. Knuckles shook his head, so Sonic tried pointing the thumb at Tails, then Shadow, and Knuckles shook his head for those two as well, leaving them both to pout along with Sonic.

"But why?" Tails asked.

"Because I haven't decided yet," Knuckles said. "We just got engaged last night. Look, once we have a date set for the wedding, we'll sort out the rest on the way. But for now, don't worry about it, okay?"

"Oh, okay," Tails said. "Just saying, Cosmo would be great at helping Shade with wedding decorations..."

"Wow. From best man to trying to make his girlfriend the maid of honour," Sonic said. "Sly as a fox, you are."

"I try," Tails smiled.

The others shared some laughter as they got up and left, heading down the stairs to the bottom floor and making their way over to the cells. They had been upgraded now to hold more people in over time, with some even serving as long time jail cells before being transferred over to the penitentiary. Sonic and the others soon found Henry Lang, laid back on his bunk and reading.

Shadow turned to one of the other officers. "Open the gate for us, please. We need to get him to an interrogation room."

"We tried that already," said the guard, opening the door. "He hasn't talked."

"He will for us," Sonic said.

Henry sighed, putting his book away. "And to think, I was getting to a good part too." As he left his cell, he was put into electrified cuffs, turning to face the officer. "Is that really necessary?"

"Yes, it is," Sonic said. "Get moving."

Henry was pushed forward, the others surrounding him in a square as they walked him over past the other cells. The hallway had been extended, and as they walked, Henry turned to Kitty, his sister, and smiled over at her before speaking.

"They won't break me," he said. "Or you."

"Clearly, you don't know what we're capable of," said Sonic.

Henry chuckled as he was pushed into the first interrogation room, forced to sit down and cuffed to the table. "You're a bunch of freelance grunts. What could you possibly know about things like this?"

Sonic nodded as the officer left them to it. "That is absolutely right."

"He's got us there," said Tails. "There's no way that a bunch of ex-cops could know anything about interrogation."

"There's no way that you and I could have read ten books on it in a week," Shadow said.

"And there's absolutely no possibility that Shadow is the best at it," Knuckles finished.

Henry sighed. "Listen, I don't want my time to be wasted. I just want you to say what you need to say and get it over with."

"Oh, that's great," Sonic said. "Because a lot of what we have to say has to do with one particular wannabe mob boss who you really got on the wrong side of. Maybe you know him? Weasel, purple fur, has a thing for trilbies, has a prominent sharp tooth that doesn't give him a speech impediment."

"Nack, huh?" Henry smiled. "He's your game?"

"Oh, he used to be," Shadow said. "Did you miss the part where we caught him and sent his ass to the pen?"

"And you've achieved so much since then," said Henry.

"See, I like him," Tails said. "I appreciate his ignorance."

The Lang brother seemed confused. "What do you mean?"

Shadow sat on the seat opposite Lang. "When Sonic said that you got on Nack's bad side, what he means is that you pissed him off by making a really bad deal."

"Well, what were we supposed to do?" Henry scoffed. "That bastard's locked up anyway, under close watch, so he can't do shit about it. If I get sent over to the pen, I'm golden, as far as I'm concerned. And besides, an identity thief like me against the shit that he's pulled off? He won't even cast a glance at someone like me."

"You'd think that," said Sonic. "So would we."

"Oh... I know where we went wrong," Knuckles said, snapping his fingers. "We forgot to tell Mr. Lang here that Nack specifically sold him out for trying to push an urn full of Fokus over to Scrap Metal. A place where Nack wasn't even dealing yet."

"Oh, come on, you don't have any proof that I was," Henry said.

Sonic grinned, looking at his wrist. "Been waiting to do this." He pressed a button on it, and there was some radio waves sounding before audio played.

"Scrap Metal was the last place I heard. They weren't supposed to be pushing it there," Nack's voice said on the watch.

"It's a bit different to what he said, but the premise is the same," Sonic said. "If it helps, he didn't know for certain that it was Fokus in the urn. But, then again, you didn't deny it just now, did you?"

Henry sighed, panicking. "It... it wasn't! We were in Scrap Metal, but-"

Sonic raised a finger up, pressing the button on his watch again. "Shh... listen."

"They weren't supposed to be selling in Green Hill," Nack's somewhat warbled voice said again. "That wasn't part of our deal."

"See, hearing that interests me," Shadow said. "If that wasn't part of the deal, why were you operating here in Green Hill? Why were you trying to push it over to Scrap Metal?"

Henry gulped a bit. "Fuck... I don't want to go to the pen, man!"

"Hey, calm down," Sonic said. "Just relax, okay? Play ball with us, and we'll cut you a deal."

"Does that deal involve me not going to the pen?" asked Henry.

"It might, but that part's not really up to us," Tails said.

Henry nodded. "We had an anonymous buyer over there. He didn't give us a name, just the location of where to take it, which was Scrap Metal."

"And why?" asked Shadow.

"He didn't say. I don't know why. He shipped me and Kitty over some new ID cards and some stuff to help with disguises, and we did the rest," said Henry. "Except get the urn over there."

"Then they're probably expecting it, huh?" Knuckles asked.

"Most likely," Henry nodded. "Can you... promise that I'll be safe?"

"Hey, you're off to the pen anyway," Sonic said. "But we'll make sure that you're not super close to Nack."

Henry nodded again. "I guessed as much..."

"One last thing before we leave," Tails said. "Whereabouts in Scrap Metal were you trying to get the urn to?"

"Lower north of the city. There's not a lot of bad stuff that goes on around that area, so the cops haven't figured anything out just yet," Henry smiled, before losing his smile. "Oh, crap..."

"And we didn't even have to push him," Sonic said. "You've been a very good boy, Mr. Lang. Now, get back in your cell."

The older sibling sighed, getting up to his feet. He was dragged out by the freelancers, the guard from earlier rejoining them as they took him to his cell. They locked up his door, making sure all was good, before turning to leave the prison area.

"They sure have expanded a lot, huh?" Tails said. "I'm impressed."

"Indeed," Sonic said. "All right, we'll go see what Espio and his crew want, then we'll head back home. I'll set up a call with Whitney over at Scrap Metal."

"He's a good guy," Tails said. "It's been a while since we last saw him."

"Well, it's like Henry said," Shadow replied, "they don't get a lot over there. It's almost as safe as Star Light."

"Yeah, it was a good place to grow up in too," Tails smiled. "Maybe that's why I turned out how I did?"

"Well, you bounced between Scrap Metal and Mystic Ruins, right?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, but Scrap Metal had better education. Plus, the workshop there was closer to the school. Not so much with Mystic Ruins..."

"Yo!" Vector's voice called. "Quit your yapping on and get over here! We've got something to show you!"

The four chuckled, heading over to the armoury. Much like the prison cells, it had gotten larger. The training area was more multifaceted, and had a separate training spot for hover-board users, with Espio, Charmy, and Vector all getting their own offices, as well as having one together to bring their ideas to fruition. Near the middle of the room was a prototype hover-board, with some dummies and targets near it which had all seen some wear and tear over time.

"There they are!" said Charmy. "Come over!"

"What is it?" Tails asked.

Charmy pointed to the hover-board. "We'd like one of you to be a test subject."

"For what, exactly?" Sonic asked. "You haven't said. We know it's a new weapon, but that's it."

"Oh, don't get so gun shy," said Espio. "Hop on."

Sonic sighed, looking at the others. They all prepared their hands for rock paper scissors, with Shadow and Sonic being the odd men out. They then competed, and Shadow won, meaning that Sonic had to get on the board. He sighed as he walked over.

"Every time... I swear, man..."

The blue hedgehog jumped on, and Charmy spoke up. "All right, I'll activate the defence systems around the board. It's a force-field bubble, so you should be safe."

"Should be?" Sonic said.

"Relax," said Espio. "Just follow our lead and do what we say."

"Got it!"

"Okay, all you need to do is say two words," Vector said. "Fire weapons. Can you do that?"

"Fire weapons? That seems-"

The hover-board suddenly sprouted a small pair of guns on either side, firing automatically at the targets in front of it. Sonic seemed confused, crossing his arms over his face even with the protective bubble, hoping not to get caught in the crossfire or have a bullet ricochet from him.

"Good thing those bullets can shoot out!" Tails said. "Otherwise, he'd be Swiss cheese by now!"

"Not helping, Tails!" Sonic said. "How do I stop it?"

"Cease fire!" Vector said. "Say that!"

"Cease fire!" the blue hedgehog yelled. The hover-board stopped firing suddenly. "Phew... thank goodness for that..."

"I'm more thankful that it only hit the targets," said Espio. "And didn't bounce off and hit anyone else."

"Yeah, that is a good thing," Knuckles said.

Sonic felt the bubble around him disappear, and he hopped off the board. "So, new defensive and offensive stuff, huh?"

"Yeah," said Charmy. "It's pretty basic, and it still has some bugs, but we'll work on it."

"Look, we're not going to demand it or anything, but... this would be pretty handy," Sonic said. "You did good work, as usual."

"Glad you think so," the bee smiled. "So, there anything else you guys need?"

"Not that we can think of," said Shadow. "Unless you have any clues about the urn?"

"We know about the fact that it needs a three digit code, and that's about it," said Vector. "We need to go get it and see if we can't take a swing at it."

"And what if it doesn't open?" asked Knuckles.

"Then we'll just have to blow it up," Espio sighed. "It feels like we have that conversation a lot. It's weird."

"You may want to hold off on any explosives," said Sonic. "We've got some info that's going to take us over to Scrap Metal. If we get a good lead, someone over there might know something."

"Is it worth going back to Nack for help?" Espio asked.

Sonic shook his head. "We've done missions without his help before. And besides, he told us it was in Scrap Metal. We don't know what exactly is going on, but we're sure as all hell going to stop it."

"You're going to try and go over tonight?" asked Vector.

"No, not after how big last night's mission was," Tails said. "We've got to get stuff in order. Tomorrow, maybe."

"And, if it's not too much trouble," said Sonic, "we'd like you to try and make a replica of the urn. But it has to be perfect."

"Well, we appreciate the extra time," Vector said sarcastically. "We'll have it ready. You just get in gear for tomorrow."

Sonic nodded, fist bumping the crocodile. "See you." He turned around, then snapped his fingers. "I almost forgot! Since it's roughly lunch, we're going to get something from Jade Mountain to take back to our base. You guys want anything before we go back?"

Vector and the other two put their order in, and later, Sonic and the freelancers were leaving the Jade Mountain drive-thru with several bags of food in hand. As promised, they stopped by to deliver the food at the department, with Tails even getting Cosmo a vegetarian meal which she split with Mina, and then they all got back to their base. They parked their boards and went inside to a large table in the living room, with Tails and Sonic standing at the head of the table and the other two sat down.

"All right, let's boot it up," Sonic said to Tails.

The yellow fox nodded and typed in a few buttons on the edge of the table, and a display popped up. It appeared as a global map, with Sonic pressing a specific area which came up listed as Scrap Metal. Sonic pressed another button, enlarging the picture of the city and showing camera footage.

"All right, with the information from Nack, this is where Henry and Kitty were supposed to be sending that urn," Sonic said, showing pictures of those three. "And with the information from the Lang siblings, they were going to send their stuff to an anonymous buyer. We don't have much else besides that it was in a low part of the north side."

"And we still don't know if it was Fokus in there," said Shadow. "The only new information we have is that there's a three number code involved."

"The best chance we have is to set up something with the buyer," Sonic said. "First part of that is the easiest, which is ask Commander Whitney for passage to Scrap Metal."

"You'd think that, after all this time helping, we wouldn't have to ask any more," said Knuckles.

"True," Sonic smiled. "But we have to play it by the book, just like always."

"By the book, you mean ours, right?"

"It's the best one we have."

Knuckles smirked. "Damn straight. Sorry for interrupting. Please, continue."

"Thanks," Sonic said. "Now, after we get into Scrap Metal, we need to find..." He stopped, waiting as Tails pressed some buttons to bring up a picture of a black cat with dark green eyes. "Ryu. This guy might be a thorn in our collective sides, but he has good info for us."

"He's part of why Scrap Metal still has a slightly higher crime rate than Star Light, and it's not even that big," said Shadow.

"Hey, at least he's only selling what he has to," Sonic said. "He's a crook, and a swindler, and... and an ass-hole. But he's never killed anyone. On purpose. But we've got no choice, and he's our best shot."

"What's the next part?" asked Tails.

"See if Ryu knows anything about the buyer that nobody else knows, try and set up a meeting with said buyer, and see where it leads us about the urn," Sonic said.

"How do we go about the mission if Ryu has anything?" asked Shadow.

"Try and blend in and infiltrate the buyer's base of operations, of he has one. We'll spend a couple of days there. The first day will be to find out any spots, entrances, exits, vents, stuff like that. As for the second day, since they'll hopefully have the urn by then, we'll ambush them, take out whoever we need to, and try and get more info on the urn."

"Force level?" asked Knuckles.

"Nonlethal," said Sonic. "Hurt, don't kill."

"I like this plan," Tails said.

Sonic smiled. "Anyone got any disagreements?"

"Nope," said Knuckles. "I'm ready."

"Same," Shadow said. "It's a good plan. We wait it out when we're over there and get this done."

Sonic turned to Tails. "And you?"

"The only problem I have with this plan is that we haven't eaten our food yet," Tails said, turning the display off.

The blue hedgehog nodded. "You're absolutely right. We need to keep our strength up!" He smiled. "Men, I order us to eat our lunch and chill out a bit."

"Well, we'll do that," Shadow said. "Don't you have something else to do?"

Sonic smiled, reaching for his phone. "Good thinking, brother." He typed in a number, waiting for a few rings before it was answered. "Hello, Commander Whitney? This is Sonic and the freelance agents. We need passage into Scrap Metal City..."

* * *

 **Been a wee while since I did one of these! I do like doing this story so much. But I have other stuff to do before I can get back to it, like other one-shots and the like, which is what'll probably come next. I'll see you all soon for whatever piece I wind up posting next! Until then, take care, and stay tuned.**


	5. Man On The Street

"All right... thanks," Sonic smiled, pressing the button on his phone. "We're all good for Scrap Metal City. Whitney's got us passes to operate there for as long as we need, which is good since this is a two day operation at the most."

"Yeah, but with Ryu there, that time could be extended," said Knuckles.

"Well, we won't worry about it too much," Sonic said. "We'll take our time with it."

"Speaking of time," Tails said, checking his phone, "Amy's almost done, right?"

Sonic nodded. "Indeed she is. I'll go and pick her up."

"We really should make a board for her," said Tails.

Sonic smiled. "Tempting, honestly. I'll ask her about it. I'm going to take my car, since I don't get to use it much."

"Fair," Knuckles said. "Take care!"

The blue hedgehog smirked. "Try not to blow anything up while I'm gone!"

"No promises!"

Sonic chuckled, taking his keys with him as he left. He hopped into his car, starting it up and playing some music as he drove to Little Hill. Before he knew it, he'd made it there, pulling up outside the school and waiting in his car. It didn't take long as he saw some parents waiting outside the building, with kids immediately going back over to them to go back home. Sonic smiled at the families there, and soon, he saw Amy leave the building, walking over with a smile.

"Hey there, beautiful!" Sonic said.

"Hello, handsome," Amy smiled, leaning over to kiss him. "Come to pick me up from work, huh?"

"Indeed I have," Sonic said. "I haven't planned past that, but I was thinking maybe we chill at your place for a bit?"

"Well, Rosy is at work," Amy giggled, walking around and hopping in. "Thank goodness for her taking more shifts at the bar."

"I know. Must be murder, though," Sonic said, starting to drive.

"Your job has you risking your life pretty frequently," said Amy. "Speaking of which, glad to hear that last night went well."

Sonic shrugged. "Just another night on the job. And considering what happened after, I'd say that we got a lot out of it."

"Yeah, it really was a great hockey game," Amy smiled. "I really should watch one live. You guys looked like you were having fun."

"I promise, I'll get us seats there," Sonic smiled. "Just the two of us."

"Oh, you old romantic," Amy winked.

Sonic laughed it off, and began the drive to Amy's place. With some rock music to help the drive, they were there before they knew it, and after parking, Sonic held the door open for Amy before locking his car up. The two soon walked into Amy's apartment, and the blue hedgehog sighed.

"You know, I still think that you should move to somewhere a bit closer to me," Sonic said. "With my job taking me to more places now, it'd be nice to get back to you sooner."

Amy blushed. "I know, but none of the free places are close enough to the school where I can get to it in time. Sally has it worse than I do, and she still gets to work."

"Speaking of which, where is she?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, she had to stay behind," Amy said. "A couple of her kids got into... well, not really a fight. One pushed the other, and the other pushed back, and the one got a nasty cut on their elbow from a rogue stone in the grass."

"Damn," Sonic said. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, they'll be fine," Amy said, heading to the kitchen. "Sally's got it all under control."

Sonic smiled, following behind Amy. He hugged her and kissed her cheek softly. "I'm glad that all is okay with you guys. It's still crazy how you used to be friends before."

Amy chuckled. "I'm just glad that she's still the same person. I do wonder, though... do you think her backpacking trip after your breakup was an overreaction?"

Sonic shrugged. "I don't know how to answer that, really. I think that I was a good boyfriend, but I wasn't the best, and she was my first relationship in a while. At least my first super serious one, that I was too scared to let get more serious."

"It's sort of ironic that you said that you two were moving too fast," Amy smiled. "Remember at the gym a few weeks ago? I thought you were going to break that treadmill."

"You're lucky that you didn't blister your finger from pressing the button," Sonic said. "I promise that I'm not going to overdo it. You should see me back at the base."

Amy giggled. "I'm glad to spend this time with you. But... I feel like you're not telling me something."

Sonic sighed, resting his head on Amy's shoulder before kissing her neck softly. "You caught me. I... have something coming up..."

"Would that be another mission?" Amy asked. "So soon after the last one?"

Sonic nodded, pulling away and turning his girlfriend around. "Yes to the mission, but not super duper soon. We're going to work it out maybe tomorrow instead."

"Where are you going?"

"Scrap Metal," Sonic said.

"And what's the plan when you get there?" Amy asked.

Sonic smiled. "Infiltrate an enemy base and try to find some more info about the urn that we got last night. Of course, we have to talk to our man on the street first to see if he's got anything for us."

"Oh, Ryu, right?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. That prick..." Sonic growled. "Sorry. I just really don't like him."

"Based off of what you've told me about him, I don't think that it's a bad thing that you don't like him," Amy said with a smile.

"Well, I'd like him a lot less if he weren't so valuable. The fact that he operates in Scrap Metal, which doesn't have a super high crime rate, just sort of makes it worse."

"As long as he's helping you, then that's all you need. You don't need to be his friend to work with him, right?" Amy suggested.

"That's true," Sonic said with a nod. "The same could be said for Shadow. He hardly got on with anybody at the academy, and then a lot changed last year. With the crash, the implants, all our big missions, and the stuff since then... he's had time to grow."

"But he still won't let me set him up for a date," said Amy.

"Hey, he has two women in his life," Sonic said. "One's human and the other is... well, Rouge."

"I can see why that's a dilemma," Amy giggled.

"Damn you and your woman crush on Rouge," Sonic said, kissing Amy softly. "And damn Shadow for his hetero crushes on Rouge and Maria."

The pink hedgehog kissed back. "I'll damn you if you don't let me sort us out some lunch."

"What are you thinking?" Sonic asked.

"Maybe a quick phone call to Jade Mountain?"

"I like your style."

The two then broke away, and Amy called up the restaurant where she, Sonic, and many of their friends had eaten food from. She placed the order, getting Sonic's one correct easily, and then hung up, sitting with her blue boyfriend and waiting for their food.

"So, any plans after this?" the pink hedgehog asked.

"No plans so far. But I do have a question to ask that was posed to be earlier," Sonic said.

"Oh? What is it?"

Sonic smiled. "Well, I was thinking that we could maybe get you a hover-board of your own?"

Amy's eyebrows rose up at that. "Really?"

Sonic nodded. "Yep. I mean, it wouldn't take long. I could just ask Charmy and his crew about it. It'll just be a normal board, without any of the weapons and such."

Amy smiled and leaned over to hug Sonic. "That sounds awesome!"

He smiled and hugged back, nuzzling up with her. "Glad you like it."

"Would Rosy get one too?" Amy asked.

"Well, I mean, it'd just be one that you could both use. You are twins, so."

"So, what, you're saying all us hedgehogs look alike?" Amy giggled.

Sonic chuckled at Amy. "Damn right, I am."

The two shared more laughter and watched some TV together, waiting for their food. After another fifteen minutes, there was a knock at their door, and Amy got up, going over to it. She smiled at the delivery boy and paid for the food, thanking him before going back to the kitchen.

"Babe! Food's here!" Amy called.

Sonic got up and went to join her. "All right, that one's mine, I think..."

"Yep, sweet sauce on it," Amy added.

Sonic looked at her and smiled. "You got it all off by heart. No pun intended, by the way."

Amy winked. "You sure about that?"

"Eh... maybe not so much."

Amy shook her head at him, but giggled as the two enjoyed their food together, watching some TV as well.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, back at the Freelancer headquarters...**

"And... that's game!" Shadow said, potting the 8-ball in a pool game.

"Come on, you've got to be using some sort of power," Knuckles said. "I am not convinced that you're not cheating at this game."

"Yes, because being able to teleport usually helps with games of pool," Shadow chuckled. "You do remember that I got the best sniper shot in the academy's history, right?"

"I don't know," Tails said. "I've been looking at some of the new trainees there. Some of them are looking pretty good."

"Maybe we could get some to join our side?" Knuckles suggested.

"Good idea," Tails replied. "You wouldn't happen to have a spare car to crash into theirs, would you?"

"I can't tell which part of that was sarcastic exactly, so I'll just say that it was all of it," said Knuckles.

Shadow shook his head. "My point is, I am just naturally this good. That and the tons of practise I get in too."

Tails shook his head, patting the black and red hedgehog on the back. "Whatever. You won. That means one of us is paying for lunch."

"Well, who lost the worst?" Knuckles asked. "I got more of the balls in than you did."

"You also potted half the stripes on accident," said Tails. "We were playing solids."

"It... was an accident?" Knuckles suggested. "You did say so yourself."

"He's right, you did," Shadow added.

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome!"

Tails smiled. "Knuckles, you're still paying."

"Ugh... fine," said the red echidna. "I'll order some food in. Jade Mountain okay with you guys?"

"Tough shit if it isn't, right?" Tails asked.

"Indeed," Knuckles nodded. "I'll go and get it sorted out." He walked away, muttering under his breath, but just loudly enough for the other two to hear him. "Guy gets engaged to the love of his life and still can't catch a break. Even saved people and all that stuff, but no, I have to pay for my friends' lunch on a dumb technicality."

Tails shook his head playfully, before turning to Shadow. "Good game there, dude. Honestly."

"Thank you," Shadow nodded.

"So, um... how are things at home?" the yellow fox asked.

"Hell, I wish that I had a clear answer," Shadow said. "I'm actually hoping to make more time to see Maria a bit more often. But with how busy we could be soon, it looks like that time isn't going to be an option."

"Well, I'd call it a simple mission," said Tails, "but anything could happen. And besides, there's always after the mission."

"True," Shadow said. "I still can't believe that we're deferring to our man on the street for the info that we need."

"Well, first we need to sort out the smoother points with Whitney," said Tails. "Then we can worry about Scrap Metal and Ryu after that."

"I can tell you which part of that I'm looking forward to the most," Shadow said. "We've got no choice, though."

"Come on, Ryu's an easy guy to shake down," Tails said. "If all else fails, we could just slap him around a little bit. Hold him at gunpoint. Maybe even use a pair of handcuffs."

"It sounds like you're describing a typical night in the much seedier parts of Casinopolis," Shadow chuckled.

Tails craned his neck. "That does give me an idea, actually..."

Shadow turned. "What are you looking around for?"

The yellow fox moved in closer. "I'm thinking about a bachelor party for big red."

"Are you serious? He just got engaged," Shadow said, keeping his voice low. "Don't you think that we should wait a little bit first?"

"I'm not saying that we have to fly out there right now," Tails sighed. "But we need to get something sorted out for him. And for the rest of us too."

The black and red hedgehog chuckled. "So, that's your ploy?"

"What are you getting at?"

"You want to set the party up to be his best man," Shadow said.

"Well... yeah," Tails shrugged. "Let's face it, I'm the most responsible person to do it. Sonic, as good a leader as he is, would probably lose it within the first hour of having it. And as for you... well, you're too good at keeping secrets. Me? I'd be impartial about it."

"Wait, so, you're telling me that the reason that I shouldn't be best man is because I'd be too good at it?" Shadow raised an eyebrow. "I'm just confused. Even more so after I found a fatal flaw in your plan."

"What would that be?"

Shadow smirked. "Don't bachelor parties usually take place one or two nights before a wedding?"

Tails nodded. "That they do. But Knuckles might not even pick a best man by that point. He might get the other stuff sorted out, but he might leave the bet man part until the very last minute." Tails smiled.

"What, you're saying that he's slow?" a voice behind the yellow fox asked.

"I am," Tails nodded. "He'd take way too long to trust anyone with that responsibility, and he can't handle it himself, and-" Tails paused and swallowed. "I just realised what happened and now I feel like a damned fool." He turned around to see Knuckles. "Hi... um... how long were you standing there?"

"For quite a while," Knuckles said. "I have to give props to Shadow for not giving my position away. I guess that him being too quiet for his own good actually helped him out here."

"Well, it hurts to be this good, but someone has to be on top of their game," Shadow said.

"Whatever, dude," Knuckles rolled his eyes. "So, Casinopolis, huh? It's a little bit early to be planning the bachelor party, isn't it?"

"Maybe so, but there is another reason that I thought it up," Tails said.

"What might that be?"

"Well, with our sporadic schedule, I just think that it's a good thing to have a little idea in mind, you know?" Tails said. "Heck, the day could come for your wedding and before you know it, Dingo would ride in on a helicopter and need us on a secret spy mission."

"If he does that, he's officially uninvited to my wedding," Knuckles said. "But I see your point. And Casinopolis is a nice place, provided that you're in the right parts of it."

Shadow smiled. "So, that's the bachelor party plan? Go to Casinopolis?"

"If we get that far, then yeah," Knuckles nodded. "But that's only the plan for now. Anything could come along and change it."

Tails nodded. "True. So, did you order the food?"

"No, I just came back to talk with you guys about my wedding and how we're all going to be wearing rainbow coloured suits, with a live orchestra playing the wedding song with a Gregorian chant added on to it," Knuckles said.

"I know that you were being sarcastic, but that would make it pretty cool," Tails said.

"Shit, you're right, it would," Shadow agreed.

The three laughed that off, then went to sit down and wait for their food. In the matter of a few more minutes, the doorbell was rung, and Knuckles went to pay for the food, just as he'd promised. He brought it back and handed it to the other two, and they started watching some hockey on TV, which made Tails smiled.

"I'm pretty sure that this is the rerun of last night," he said.

Shadow looked closely, seeing him and Tails sat there around the time that Knuckles and Sonic left. "So it is."

"What a game it was last night!" said a female news reporter with blonde hair.

"I know!" said another female reporter, this one Latina and with darker skin. "And did you see that we had some special guests there as well?"

"Why, indeed I did! Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow, otherwise known as The Freelancers!"

"Now now, that's not their official name, but since they can't come up with one, that's what we'll call them!"

"Boo! Get off the stage!" Knuckles playfully jeered at the television.

"You can criticise their choice of name, or lack thereof, but you can't deny their track record," said the blonde.

"That's right," said the Latina. "Shortly before this, they had just finished stopping a noted identity thief at the Green Hill Museum, which was in the process of adding a new exhibit."

"Said thief was moving a mysterious urn full of unknown substances, but thanks to the cooperation of the Green Hill Police Department, The Freelancers put a stop to it!"

"Damn right we did," Knuckles said, saluting playfully.

"In other news," said the blonde, "Captain Avery of the G.H.P.D. had some news about a new batch of recruits coming up from Green Hill Police Academy soon, and he had this to say."

The camera cut to Avery in front of the G.H.P.D. building with a microphone near his face as he spoke with pride. "I will admit, I do still miss those four that left here so long ago, despite only having seen them just last night." The reporters chuckled. "However, I have faith that the future recruits will set a good example soon, much as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow continue to set to this very day."

The camera then cut back to the girls in the newsroom, with the blonde speaking again. "Thank you for joining us. Now, for our newest update on a famed pop singer who was recently caught out for cheating on his girlfriend."

"And... skip," Knuckles said, going down a few channels.

"That was cool that they got in contact with Avery," said Tails. "I like that he's got some new guys coming in soon."

"They'd start on Monday, right?" asked Shadow.

"Like we did all that time ago, yeah," Tails asked. "Why?"

The black and red hedgehog smiled. "After we've eaten, let's go and grab Sonic. We can run this by him."

"That sounds good," said Knuckles. "And it'd only be right to run the idea by him too."

"Indeed," Tails added. "But, for now, lunch."

"Hey, I was about to say that," Knuckles pouted playfully.

* * *

 **Back with Amy and Sonic...**

The two hedgehogs were panting, the bed-sheets covering them up as they sighed and happily smiled at each other. They both let out sharp exhales of breath before managing to catch the air back in their lungs, with Amy starting to speak.

"Wow..." she panted. "I guess that... we can get crazy... when we're alone..."

"Yeah..." Sonic agreed. "It's nice to not do that with three other guys maybe coming in at any moment..."

"Or my sister," Amy giggled.

"True," Sonic smiled.

"Sis?" Rosy called.

"Oh, fuck..." Amy said, her eyes growing wider as she heard Rosy's footsteps begin to encroach more and more.

Sonic used a bit of his speed to scramble out of bed, getting his clothes and putting on what he could while handing Amy hers. By the time that Rosy had opened their door, Sonic had managed to put his shirt and boxers back on, and Amy's underwear was on, with her just then slipping on a pair of jeans.

"Did I... interrupt?" Rosy smirked.

"Actually, we... um... just finished..." Amy said.

"Oh, wow," Rosy stepped forward, slapping Sonic's arm. "You damn stud, you."

Sonic blushed, shaking it off and putting his own jeans on quickly. "So, what brings you here?"

"I live here," Rosy said.

"I mean, why are you back?"

"Oh, one of the other girls offered to take my shift for the day," Rosy said. "Since I've been working more over there, I figured that I needed the break, so I took it."

"Will you be back there tonight?" asked Amy, also now fully dressed.

"Yeah, but only for a couple of hours, so I might be back early," Rosy said. "Sorry about that... I know that you guys haven't... you know..."

"Yeah, we know," Sonic said hurriedly. "It's... sort of why we..."

"Did it... when we could..." Amy smiled.

"Did the thrill of getting caught add to your heart condition?" Rosy asked.

"No, because we didn't think that you'd be back early," said Amy. "But thank you for reminding me to go and refresh my pills on the weekend."

"It's what I'm here for," Rosy said. "Well, that and serving amazing beer. Now with fewer low-cut tops so that I can get tips thanks to my personality and not thanks to my cleavage."

"If that's the case, imagine having Rouge working for you," Sonic said. "Within a week, you could be the biggest bra- I mean, bar in Mobius."

Rosy laughed at that. "I think that we're fine as we are. Besides, Rouge already has a job. It'd be rude to interrupt that."

"I know," Amy said. "Literally working with the brightest and shiniest jewels in the world... I imagine that Knuckles got a discount when he got the engagement ring from there."

"You'd think that Shadow would get that discount," said Sonic, "but he could only propose to either Maria or Rouge, the latter of which would be weird since she's the one selling the jewels in the first place."

"He has to be dating one of them at least," said Amy. "Or at least he cares deeply enough for both of them."

"Well, they've been hanging around with you and the other girls more, right?" Sonic asked.

"That they have," said Rosy. "Especially Maria. That girl lives pretty far off, and to think that Shadow used to live with her too. The fact that she's willing to come all that way just to hang out with people speaks volumes."

The blue hedgehog nodded. "Shadow's been the same. I don't know if it's from Maria softening him up a bit or Rouge telling him to get his head out of his ass, but he's been hanging out with us more. And, to our eternal shock, he's been enjoying it."

"I know, right?" Amy giggled. "It's weird to think that he's been smiling more now."

"Who would you say that's more down to?" asked Rosy. "Rouge or Maria?"

"Huh..." Sonic said. "I'll have to ask him that when I next see him." His phone then started to vibrate, and he got it out and answered it. "Hello?"

"Yeah, hi, we're just outside," said Tails. "Put some clothes on and come out to us."

"Or you could come here," said Sonic.

"Not a bad idea, but we'll just wait in the living room," said Tails.

Rosy giggled. "I'll go and get the door."

Amy shook her head as her pink twin sister headed off. "Unbelievable..."

Sonic smirked. "I was about to say the same thing..." He stood up and kissed Amy. "We should probably go and... yeah..."

"Good thinking," said Amy, nodding.

The two hedgehogs sorted themselves out, spraying themselves with deodorant and making sure that their hair was a bit more presentable before checking over their clothes, just in case. After sorting out what they had to, they both went downstairs, seeing Sonic's friends sat around the living room.

"Hey, guys," Sonic smiled. "This is... quite a surprise."

"Were you not expecting to see us?" asked Knuckles.

"They weren't expecting to see me, either," Rosy said. "Luckily, they-"

"We don't need to know," said Shadow.

"Thank you for that," Sonic said, nodding to the black and red hedgehog for saving him the embarrassment. "But, yeah, why are you guys here?"

"Well, we were watching the news earlier," said Tails, "and we saw something that caught our interest."

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"Soon, there's going to be some new graduates from Green Hill Police Academy," said Tails. "We came over to ask you about it."

Sonic nodded. "I mean, I appreciate that you guys are running it through me, but couldn't you have asked over the phone?"

"And listen to the awkward silenced moaning?" Knuckles replied. "Thanks, but I'll pass."

"Shadow gave us the common courtesy," said Amy. "Why couldn't you?"

"Because I'm less cordial and subtle," Knuckles said with a shrug.

Tails shook his head. "Anyway, we felt it best to ask you in person since it is a pretty big deal. We all know what that was like."

"So, what are you suggesting, exactly?" Rosy asked. "That you four go over and train the newbies?"

"Well... yeah," Tails said. "That's the plan that we have in mind."

"And we could treat it like an official freelancer mission," said Knuckles. "Since it's our own op, and since we technically have backup in the G.H.P.D. waiting for us, it can be like any other mission."

"Yeah, except for one thing that I just thought of," said Shadow.

"What's that?" asked Amy.

"Well, on the weekend, we're going to Scrap Metal for a pretty big mission," said Shadow. "I don't exactly know how good we'd feel after that in terms of breaking in some new recruits."

"That is a solid point," Sonic said. "I mean, it would be nice to have fun with the trainees, see what they think of their new jobs and such, but after a long trip and what could be a long mission? Shadow's right. It seems like it'd be too much too fast."

"Bitch, please," said Knuckles. "We were in a car accident on our first day as cops and chasing down Nack at Westopolis within a week."

"A car accident that was my fault," Sonic said. "I know that it's been a year and a half. I'm still not letting that go."

"Well, you should," Knuckles said. "We've said it before. We followed you no matter what, and we still do."

"He... does have a point," Tails said. "It's not like we haven't been injured in the time since then." He then bowed his head. "But, as always, the choice is yours."

Knuckles nodded. "Yeah. Whatever you want to do, that's what we'll do."

"Thanks," Sonic said, turning to Shadow. "And you?"

"Um... make a choice so that we can go back home quicker?" Shadow said.

Sonic laughed a bit at that, folding his arms as he sat down in thought. 'Okay, so, we've got a big operation soon, and it's pretty far away from Green Hill, and it could take the entire weekend. It might even take up Monday unless we managed to get it all sorted out. But if we do manage to get it done earlier, we'll have more time and energy for when the new graduates show up.' He sat back and tapped a finger against his chin before nodding, smiling. "To hell with it. Let's do it."

"Are you serious?" Tails asked.

"Yeah," Sonic said, getting up. "And besides, we may as well go to G.H.P.D. and ask Avery right now before we get to our mission."

"We'd better get a move on," said Shadow. "We've got a certain black cat to meet up with too."

"Yeah... don't remind me..." Sonic sighed. He turned to Amy and kissed her. "See you later, Ames."

"Actually, I'm Rosy," said Amy.

"I hope not," said Sonic. "Because if that's the case, I'm really sorry for what we did in the shower."

"Now who's not being cordial or subtle?" asked Knuckles.

"Still you," the blue hedgehog smiled, turning to Amy and kissing her again. "Later."

"Bye," Amy smiled.

The four guys left, and Rosy turned to Amy. "What did you do in the shower exactly?"

"Something that I'm going to leave to clean up so that you can't find out?" Amy tried.

"Good answer," Rosy smiled.

Outside, they all got themselves into Sonic's car. Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails had all used their hover-boards to get to Sonic, so they folded them up and put them in the trunk of the car before driving to Green Hill Police Department. Tunes were sung on the war, the four Mobians barking out the last chorus of "Haunt Me" by While She Sleeps.

"Man, that's a good song," said Sonic. "From a good album."

"Indeed," Tails nodded. "Also, I just realised, but did we all have two lunches today back to back?"

"Eh, we've got some time off. We can just work the fat off tomorrow," Knuckles smiled.

"Says the guy with no fat on him whatsoever," Shadow smirked as they all headed inside.

"Oh, hey," said Cosmo. "You need help?"

"Just here for a quick chat with Avery," Sonic explained. "Is he around?"

"Yeah, he's up in his office," said Mina. "Just go right on up. I'll buzz him and let him know."

"Actually, keep it a surprise," Sonic said. "Thanks."

The four freelancers then got on the elevator, taking it up to the top floor. They headed to where Avery's office was, staying outside and overhearing his phone conversation with someone from the academy before an exasperated sigh escaped their former commander's lips. Sonic knocked on the door.

"Come in," Avery said.

Sonic knocked again, stifling some laughter.

"The door is open," Avery said, soon getting up. He went over and opened the door himself, shaking his head playfully. "Of course it was you guys."

"What, you're not happy to see us?" asked Tails.

"I didn't say that," said Avery, sitting back in his seat. "In fact, it's good that you came. I really need someone to talk to who isn't going to put a strain on me."

"Having troubles with the academy, huh?" Shadow asked.

The bear nodded. "I am, but how did you know that?"

"We saw it on the news," said Knuckles. "And we thought that we'd come over and offer up some help."

"Oh?" Avery sat up straight. "And how?"

"Well, if the mission that we've got coming up in Scrap Metal goes as well as we hope that it will, we could be done early," Tails said. "If that is the case, then we'd like to help you break in the new recruits."

Avery smiled. "Well, I do appreciate that. But that's more official police business."

"Then we'll treat it like a mission of its own," Sonic smiled. "And since we'd be in an office full of police officers, you guys could act as backup for us should things go pear shaped."

Avery nodded. "I'm glad that you didn't try to contact me over the phone, because I was pretty close to putting a hole through the damn thing. Just some issues with transport, but we'll get it sorted."

"Is there more this time than there was us four last time?" Knuckles asked.

"A lot more, but you won't have to deal with all of them," Avery said. "And, as always, I appreciate the help greatly." He stood up and shook hands with them all. "Thank you."

"It's no problem," Sonic nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got a mission to prepare for."

"Good luck with it," said Avery. "If you need our help in return, just let us know."

"We will," Sonic said. "But Whitney's got us covered, I think. Still, if we need it, we'll call."

Avery nodded again, and the freelancers took their leave. They got to the elevator and took it to the bottom floor, heading out to Sonic's car. They took it back to their headquarters, going about their business as usual before turning in for the night, ready for tomorrow's mission.

* * *

 **And another chapter of this is now done! Oh, I can't wait for the action that will come when they get to Scrap Metal. As always, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and that you're liking the story. I'll see you soon for more More Toys smut, then back to Foxhunt and Love And War. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.**


	6. Ins And Outs

The morning after, the four freelancers were awake, showered, and clothed. They'd gotten their breakfast and were sat around the kitchen table, with Sonic looking down at his phone and answering a text from Amy. A text from Whitney followed, and he checked the time on his phone before replying.

"We all ready to go?" asked Knuckles.

"Yeah," Sonic nodded. "We honestly just have to get over to the police department to grab our gear, then we're on our way to Scrap Metal City. We'll work out the rest when we get there."

The red echidna nodded back, and they finished their food before getting up to leave. They headed for their car outside, making it through the early morning Green Hill City traffic to get to the police department. They parked as soon as they got there, heading inside the building.

"Hey, sweetie," Tails smiled, kissing Cosmo's cheek. "Are Vector and the others in? We need to pick up some weapons of death before going in a dangerous mission."

Cosmo giggled. "They're in. Just go right ahead."

Sonic playfully tugged Tails' ear to pull him away from his girlfriend, chuckling as he put his arm around him too. "Honeys, we're home!"

"Weapon stop?" asked Espio.

"What, we can't drop by to say hello to our pals at the department and reminisce over old times?" asked Sonic.

"Not if you're here to get weapons specifically for a mission," Vector added.

"The man has a point," said Shadow. "What do you have for us?"

"The usual," Vector said. "Some extra ammo, those mines that you like-"

"I added a goop version!" said Charmy from the back of the room. "It shoots a bunch of webs out! I spent all morning showering to get it out of my wings!"

"Thank you, little buddy! We appreciate it!" said Knuckles.

"Moving on from that," Vector cleared his throat, "got you some assault rifles, your stunner pistols, grenades, a shotgun, and for Shadow... we got you something special."

"A gift? Vector, you shouldn't have," Shadow smiled.

The green crocodile smiled and pulled out a large black sniper rifle on a tripod. "Say hello to Aigle. Despite its size, it's surprisingly light. Has a 60x scope, stunner bullets, like with most of your guns nowadays, and also..." He turned it around. "It has this handy slide on this side which can hold an additional magazine. Normally, this rifle carries 20 bullets per clip. This magazine triples that. And it automatically reloads too when it's out."

"I'm waiting on the drawback here," said Sonic. "No gun is this fucking sweet."

"The auto reload option can take a few seconds," said Espio. "So, make sure you pick your shots carefully and conserve your ammo. And heck, you'll be taking a sidearm with you too, so I'd recommend that you use that in the time between reloads."

"Is nothing perfect in this world?" Sonic sighed dramatically.

Shadow shook his head, unable to hide his chuckle. "Thanks for this, Vector."

"No problem," said Vector. "We'll drop this all off at the road that splits to the highway. You go back to your base and get ready."

"See you in a bit," Sonic nodded.

They soon all left, heading back to their car and ready to go back to their base. The drive back over there wasn't too long, and they didn't waste time in gathering anything that they needed. They left their boards there as they weren't necessary for the mission, and after picking up some armour and extra ammo, they were back in their car. Soon enough, they'd reached the point where the highway split, seeing a G.H.P.D car waiting for them there already.

"Best of luck out there," said Vector as the weapons were packed into the freelancers' car.

"We'll be fine. But thanks," Sonic nodded.

Vector shook hands with Sonic, and soon, the rest of the weapons were all packed up. The freelance agents got back into their car and started their drive down to Scrap Metal City, playing some music on the radio to help the trip pass by. They took the road that led to the city, and they were soon driving up to the toll booth.

"Papers, please?" asked the man behind the booth.

"You with Whitney?" asked Sonic.

"I am indeed," the man chuckled. "I sort of need those passes." Sonic smiled, showing his ID, as did the others. The man gave them their new ones for usage in Scrap Metal. "Ryu's in the central street," he whispered. "Be on watch for him. I know he's your contact, but you don't know what he'll try to pull. And remember, no one knows the ins and outs of the city better than him, so be careful." He then nodded, opening the gate. "You're good. Go on through."

Sonic gave a thumbs up of respect before the car started to move along again. They were soon in the city proper, taking a look around for a place to park. They found somewhere out of immediate notice, mostly because they had weaponry that they wanted to keep hidden away from others, and taking only sidearms with them as they walked out to the main street.

"Must feel good to be back home, no?" Sonic asked as they walked.

Tails shook his head. "It's been so long that I don't even know if it's home any more. I've lived in Green Hill for such a long time. It's such a surreal feeling to be back here now."

"We really don't get to come here all that often," said Shadow. "It's a good looking place."

Tails smiled. "Yeah, most of my inspirations for building things came from my parents, and most of their inspiration came from the walls of this city."

"Well, let's not take too much of a gander," Sonic said. "We've got our contact to meet."

The yellow fox nodded, and they kept walking through the city, looking around for Ryu. As they walked by, they noticed some police officers patrolling, nodding towards them respectfully as they recognised them from working with them before. The officers nodded back, and Knuckles kept his eyes open.

The freelancers soon turned to look around the city proper, seeing the buildings that surrounded the place that Tails was born and raised. The industrial feeling, the hardworking citizens, and the sounds of the sellers on the flea and farmers market echoing out through the streets really complimented the feeling of it all.

"Whitney's guy did say in the centre, right?" Knuckles asked.

"That he did," said Sonic. "Maybe Ryu's expecting us, so he's either hiding, stealing from someone, or hiding from someone he just stole from."

"It doesn't hurt to ask for some help," Sonic shrugged. "Let's check in with some old pals of ours." They walked up to the officers from earlier. "Hey, man."

"Sonic and the freelancers!" said one of the officers. "Good to see you!"

"Been a while!" said the other.

"Good to see you too," Sonic smiled.

"Man, no wonder the crime rate is so low out here. Everyone's so nice," Knuckles said, turning to Tails. "That does explain a lot about you, then."

"Oh, you..." Tails smiled.

"So, what can we do you for?" asked the first officer.

"We're here for... a secret mission..." Sonic said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "And we're looking for Ryu... he's got some info that we need."

"Last that I saw of him, he was in that back alley," said the officer, pointing past them. "Hard to miss him."

"Thank you," Tails said. "Oh, and how was that chicken recipe that my mother recommended?"

"Oh, it was delicious! Tell Rosemary that I said thank you the next time you see her!"

"Will do!"

The freelancers gave a thumbs up to the officers before turning to leave, searching around the back alley that was pointed out for them. As they got the the entrance, Sonic paused as he reached down to his stomach, feeling a slight sting to it, but he coughed and waved it off, clearing his throat.

"You good?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sonic said. "Let's get this done."

They headed through the alleyway, and soon enough, they saw Ryu waiting for them. The black cat wore a smile as he spotted them, and he walked over to meet them halfway in the alley. His grey duster coat billowed in the wind as he extended a hand towards Sonic, a not completely honest smile on his face.

"Ah, it's so good to see you!" Ryu said.

"I'm not shaking your hand," Sonic said. "I'd love to say that it's because I don't know where it's been, but somehow knowing where it has been makes it a lot worse."

"Come on, I won't steal anything from you... this time," Ryu said.

"Yeah... I ain't buying it," Sonic said. "Look, just give us what we need."

"Ah... right. Information. I heard through the grapevine that the freelancers were on their way here. It's been a little bit of time." Ryu smiled. "Is it all because you were trying to stay away from me?"

"It's more so because we were trying to avoid being anywhere near you," said Tails.

"Wow. That hurts, fuzzy," Ryu clutched at his chest. "It breaks my heart."

"Can we stop wasting time?" asked Shadow. "We're here for a reason, remember?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. Look, Ryu... we heard that there's an urn passing through the city soon. Said urn is going to an anonymous buyer. Any information that you have about said buyer would be pretty good, I won't lie."

"You never just come here to talk any more..." Ryu playfully sighed. "Yeah, I might know a little something. But it will cost you."

"Well, I have a proposition for you," Sonic said. "How about you tell us what we need to know, and we don't throw your thieving ass in jail."

The black cat shook his head. "All right, pull my leg. I'll tell you. But we do need to do this privately."

"Wait, you're serious?" asked Knuckles.

"Damn right," Ryu nodded. "This place doesn't have a lot in the way of excitement, but you never know who might be watching. We can't talk about it so out in the open. Follow."

Ryu turned around and started walking. Sonic and the others moved to catch up, and they continued to follow him around a corner which was more out of place in the alleyway, leading them to a small overhang of the area. The freelance agents recognised it as Ryu's main base of operations, where he did some... less than entirely legal business.

Ryu began speaking again. "I know the dude that you're talking about, and I know that he's very careful when things start coming in. With that urn being the way that it is, it's no surprise just how careful he'd be."

"You know about the urn?" asked Sonic.

"I've heard about it, yes. The guy you're looking for wasn't exactly subtle about the sell. I have ears out on the streets for a reason, you know." Ryu smiled. "Or are you just too proud to admit that you need me?"

"Does this dude have a name?" asked Shadow.

"All that I know is that they call him Barrett. I've never seen him, but I've heard that he's a big fella. Mobian, I believe. Don't know what animal, though." Ryu scratched the back of his head. "Is that all? Am I free to go?"

"You'd better not be lying to us," said Sonic.

"What, and risk stealing from you guys again? You almost shot me last time!" He pointed to Shadow. "Heck, I'm pretty sure that Captain Misery over there did shoot me but he missed!"

"I missed on purpose," said the black and red hedgehog. "If I wanted to actually hit you, you'd be dead."

"And yet, without me, you wouldn't even be getting this help, now, would you?" Ryu smirked.

"You really don't want to tempt me, ass-wipe..." Shadow growled, reaching for his pocket.

"Whoa, whoa," Tails put his hand on Shadow's own, stopping him from reaching any further. "This place has a low-ish crime rate. I'd like to keep it that way."

"You heard fluffy here. You should listen," said Ryu.

"All right, just give it a rest," said Sonic, turning to the others. "Look, we've gotten what we came here to get, so now, let's get back to work."

"Aren't you going to thank me for my help?" Ryu asked.

"How about the fact that you're not getting shot at? Is that good?" Knuckles asked.

"Eh... I'll take it..." Ryu sighed.

Sonic shook his head, and he and the others walked away from the black cat. "I swear, it's bad luck every time that he crosses our paths."

"First of all, good pun," said Knuckles. "Secondly, that wouldn't surprise me. I mean, he doesn't have a cybernetic implant, but if he did, that could be it."

"I'm pretty sure that the implants are more to do with the physical," Tails said. "You can't just change someone's luck with one of them."

"It'd be a cool power, though," Sonic said. "Might help me be a bit better at poker..."

"Dude, we've told you to stop scratching your left ear when you get a good hand," said Knuckles.

"I get an itch there sometimes!" Sonic defended.

"Funny how that itch only pops up when we're gambling," the red echidna smirked. "You're lucky that we do it at home. We'd be bankrupt within a week if we set foot in Casinopolis."

"I get it, I'm bad at things," Sonic sighed. "Let's just get to where we need to go."

"Henry did say the lower north end, right?" Tails asked.

"He did," Shadow nodded. "Which means that there's there the buyer is. But we need a plan before we just waltz in and say hi to this Barrett guy."

"The plan was to arrange a buy with them," Sonic said. "Difficult to do since we don't know where they are. I don't think that even Ryu knows where they are."

"Wouldn't hurt to ask around," said Tails. "See if anyone knows anything."

"All right, let's split up and do that," Sonic nodded. "We'll meet back here in twenty minutes."

The four all broke apart, beginning to search around the city. They asked around the civilians there if they'd seen anything, but they didn't find out anything new. After that, they asked the officers, but even they hadn't seen anything that could have pointed them in the right direction. The four met back at their original point near one of the market stalls.

"You guys get anything?" asked Sonic.

"No," Knuckles said, shaking his head. "Except for an offer on saving money on my car insurance, I didn't get anything."

Tails shook his head. "Same here. But an old school teacher recognised me, which was nice."

"Jack squat on my end too," Shadow said. "Someone has to have seen something. And we're in the right place. I did ask."

"Maybe we're in the right place," Sonic said. "But we're not where we're supposed to be... if that makes sense."

"No, I get what you're saying," said Knuckles. "This place has a low crime rate, so any crime that would be happening wouldn't be super out in the open."

"Which means that we need to move in a bit closer..." said Shadow.

"Shadow, you check the rooftops. See if anything sticks out," Sonic said. "The rest of us will stay near the car."

The black and red hedgehog nodded, and the four of them headed back to the alleyway where they'd parked their car. They went to the trunk of the car, getting some earpieces and some binoculars for Shadow. He put them around his neck before looking up at a ladder on the side of a building, teleporting himself to the top of it and climbing onto the roof.

"All right, I'm up here," Shadow said over the earpiece.

"All right, you keep your eyes peeled," said Sonic. "You see anything, you let us know."

"I'll try not to make things too boring for you," Shadow smiled on his end, peering down the binoculars. "All right, be on the lookout for anything immediately suspicious... or rather, not immediately suspicious... I'll go radio silent until I see something."

"All right, keep us posted," Sonic said, switching off.

Knuckles crossed his arms. "I wonder what the rest of the mission is going to be like with us just standing around and looking handsome..."

"I mean, we could just talk about who's going to be your best man," said Tails, shrugging.

Knuckles sighed. "Still on the fence about who that's going to be," he rubbed the back of his head. "Me and Shade still need to set a date and everything else first. Plus, the proposal was super recent, so... that'll have to wait."

"I'm just saying," said Tails. "Maybe a bachelor party could be fun."

Sonic sighed. "Tails, you're meant to be the nice one. And besides, your idea of a bachelor party probably isn't, you know, strippers and booze."

"To be honest, that's not my idea of that either," said Knuckles. "But, I am curious... if you guys were to do a bachelor party for me, what would you do?"

"To be fair, I know that you like bowling," said the yellow fox. "So, we could all go and do that, I think."

"Not a bad choice," said Knuckles, turning to Sonic. "All right, your turn, blue boy. Impress me."

"The bowling isn't a bad idea, but I know you. You'd want to go to the Midnight Oil, maybe knock back a beer or two, hockey game on TV."

"That's two viable options," Knuckles said. "I'm kind of impressed." He tapped his earpiece. "Shadow? You listening?"

"Kind of hard not to," Shadow said.

"In that case, the same question that I asked these two I'll ask you," Knuckles said. "Bachelor party. You're throwing it. What's the plan?"

Shadow peered more through his binoculars. "Well, if it were up to me, I'd find my own bachelor party that's out of place from others. No drinking at a bar, no bowling, no strippers, just a bunch of pals sitting around, shooting the shit, telling jokes..." He peered further through the binoculars. "But that's just me."

"Again, strippers were never an option," Knuckles said. "Drinking, probably. Naked ladies, no."

Shadow chuckled a bit. "Looks like my suggestion is the most viable one."

"Dude, we do that kind of stuff every day when we're not, you know, saving whatever city that we're in," Sonic said.

Shadow peered more through the binoculars, seeing something gleam a bit. "Wait... I think that I've got something..."

"What's up?" asked Tails.

The black and red hedgehog zoomed in closer. "I think... yep, it's a camera. CCTV. Very out of place, attached to the corner of a small building. Might be worth scoping out." He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the building.

"We'll need to get closer," said Sonic. "This may require some sneaking around and such..."

Shadow teleported back behind them, nodding. "What's the plan, boss man?"

"Please say stakeout, please say stakeout," Knuckles crossed his fingers.

"Of course there's going to be a stakeout!" Sonic smiled. "But first, we need to go back to Ryu..."

They moved back to the alleyway where Ryu was talking to someone, selling them something from inside his pocket. The buyer slipped Ryu some money in a secretive deal, then turned to see Sonic and the others, looking over their uniforms and panicking as he turned back to Ryu.

"You with the cops?" he asked.

Ryu shook his head. "No. Trust me, I couldn't be further away from working with those guys if I tried."

"He's right," Knuckles said as they walked over. "He hates us, we hate him, it's a fantastic working relationship that we have."

The buyer nodded, thanking Ryu as he pushed past Sonic. The black cat nodded to them. "Find what you were looking for?"

"Mostly," said Sonic. "We got a glimpse of where we think that the bad guys are."

Shadow showed the picture on his phone. "Does this building look familiar to you? And please, give us a satisfying answer."

"I don't see a building. It's just a camera on the wall..." Ryu looked closer.

"You're not good at this whole satisfying answer part, are you?" Shadow asked.

"I..." Ryu looked again. "I know that place. It's just by the back end of a pawn shop. I use to run business there. Back when I was, you know, slightly worse."

"It's great to see that you haven't improved one iota," Sonic said.

"You're welcome for the help, douche-bag..." Ryu sighed.

"You want to be helpful?" Sonic asked, reaching to open the black cat's coat. "Stop selling all of this shit." He looked over it all. "I mean, come on, you're got some pills, some booze, some porno mags..."

"It's just little things!" said Ryu as he pushed Sonic away from him. "Little fixes for people with little vices! Hell, most of them aren't even from Scrap Metal City! They just come to me because they know that this is where the good shit is!" He closed his coat. "As far as I'm concerned, that's a little bit of bad in a city that's got too much good for my liking. And there's also the fact that, you know, the people that you're taking down are presumably way worse than anything than anything that I could do. I don't kill, I don't hurt anyone, I give all of my clients enough time to pay what they owe... I do what I have to do to survive."

Shadow turned and looked away at that, and Sonic understood why before clearing his throat. "There are betters ways than this, and you know it."

"You know... you're absolutely right," said Ryu. "But I can't just clean up my act. And, you have to admit, I have my uses."

"When you choose to be useful, that is," Knuckles retorted.

"You know, there's honestly just no winning with you guys, so I'm going to leave." Ryu turned on his heel, flipping a middle finger at the four as he walked.

"Good riddance," Sonic said, turning around to walk away too. "Let's head back to the car."

"I can't believe that guy, trying to justify his bullshit like that," Shadow said.

Tails put a hand on the black and red hedgehog's shoulder. "I get that some of what he said cut a little deep with you..."

Sonic folded his arms. "Yeah... sorry about that, man. I mean, he doesn't know, but that doesn't make it any better." He smiled a bit as he rubbed his arms together. "I'm surprised that you were so restrained. Maria has made-" He felt around his chest area, checking the pockets of his jacket. "Son of a bitch..."

"What's up?" Knuckles asked, the others stopping with him.

"He took my phone!" Sonic said. "It had the ID card in it! Let's get going!"

As they turned to get moving, Ryu was already running ahead of them, Sonic's phone tucked into his jacket as he ran. He didn't dare check over his back in case Sonic or any of the others were behind him, and he laughed to himself as he kept running, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I can't believe that that fuzzy blue dumb-ass got nicked... by me... again!"

He laughed to himself as he kept running, but soon saw a familiar dead end. Realising it, he turned left to a different part of the alleyway, still not checking over his shoulder. Unfortunately, he didn't think to check up above as Tails landed in front of him, causing Ryu to slide to a halt. He tried turning to his left again, but Sonic waited. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by all four of them.

"I'm sorry!" Ryu pleaded.

"Oh, give that a rest and give me back my phone, ass-hat," Sonic said. Ryu handed it over, and Sonic checked that the ID card was still in it. "This could have gone a lot worse for you. You're getting off easy today."

"I really hate you guys... putting a damper on my business..." said Ryu.

"I'm sorry, but remind us again who's doing bad business in a good town?" asked Shadow, picking Ryu up. "Get the hell out of here."

The black cat got up and dashed away, and Knuckles shook his head. "Why do we bother with him?"

"Usually, his information is actually good," said Tails. "If he's right, then we should see about this Barrett guy."

"Well, that does further the plan, which is good," said Shadow. "So, we just need to move on to the next part, right?"

Sonic nodded. "The next part is setting up a meeting with Barrett. We'll scope the place out tonight, I think."

"Stakeout with possible takeout?" Knuckles asked. "I'm interested!"

"Do they even have Jade Mountain here?" Shadow asked.

Tails nodded. "Yep! It's over here too!"

"Oh, sweet!"

"Before we let our stomachs take over, we should check on the place first," Sonic said. "What do you guys think?"

"Yeah... sounds fair..." said Tails. "We have to set up a buy, right? So, how do we do that?"

"Well, when all else fails," Sonic said, "ask the local law enforcement for help."

The four walked out of the alleyway, navigating their way back on to the main street. They noticed a food stand, and decided to get themselves a couple of sandwiches to tide them over until Sonic suggested getting a couple of extra ones, paying the money for it too.

"Looking to bulk up a bit, slim?" Knuckles asked.

The blue hedgehog playfully shook his head. "These ain't for me." He walked over to the officers from earlier. "Gentlemen! We bring good news!"

"Oh? And what is it?" asked one of the officers.

"Well..." Sonic leaned over to whisper in case anyone else was listening in, and the officer nodded. "So... are you okay with that?"

The other officer spoke up. "So, the sandwiches are a peace offering?"

"Indeed they are," Sonic said. "We just need you to go and find the guy."

"Where is the building again?"

"Back end of a pawn shop," said Knuckles. "I know that we're asking a lot of you to go in and set this up for us, but... we need your help."

The officers nodded, smiling. "We'll do it!"

"All right, good," Sonic said. "We'll get set up for tonight. We'll pay you back for this too. I promise."

"Ah, it's no worries when it comes to helping you guys out," said the first officer.

Tails chuckled. "See? It's not just me. This city is full of good people... that aren't named Ryu..."

The others laughed a bit at that, and the officers shook hands with the freelancers before the latter team broke apart. They decided to check out the area where the pawn shop was, Shadow using his binoculars and taking pictures of any entrances and exists that he could find. The others helped patrol around it in the car, seeing how many guards were there and what weapons they held. Soon, nighttime rolled around, and the officers met the freelancers again to sort out the plan.

"Remember," said Sonic, "you're both going in to ask to set up the buy. They don't know who you are, or who we are."

Shadow nodded. "We're going to put a mic on you so that we can hear them, and in case you get in trouble, we'll bail you out."

"We appreciate it," said the first officer. "But don't worry about us. We'll be okay."

Sonic nodded. "Shadow? If you wouldn't mind?"

The black and red hedgehog smiled, gathering the other freelancers around him and teleporting up to a roof. They then kept skipping from rooftop to rooftop, making sure that they had their equipment with them and that they didn't drop any of it before Shadow dropped them all off at individual rooftops, staying at the last one on his own and setting up the Aigle.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the officers drove around the city, following the route that Shadow had made thanks to his teleporting. They drove the car around the city as they followed the Mobian group, soon finding themselves near the pawn shop in question. They parked the car near the front and walked around the back of it, seeing the CCTV camera peering down on them. Before they set foot near the door, a guard came out, his hand hovering over a holstered pistol.

"Halt!" said the guard. "State your business here!"

"Oh, uh... we're here to talk about the... delivery..." one of the officers said.

"Oh, yeah? Are you interested in being part of the buy?"

"No, but we know a party who are interested," said the other officer.

"And where are they?" asked the guard

"They're around, but you won't see them unless you say yes," answered the officer.

"I don't trust a party that I can't see."

The officer smiled. "Maybe this would change your mind?" he asked, showing one of the sandwiches from earlier.

The guard's stomach grumbled, and he raised an eyebrow. "What is this?"

"Consider it a peace offering," the officer said. "Do you accept it?"

"Well... it's going to take more than that." The guard then took the sandwich and began eating. "But if your party wants a share of the profits... they're in. Just tell them to show up tomorrow, all right?"

"They will."

"Good." The guard stopped eating. "I will ask, though... how did your friends know about the deal?"

Sonic gulped where he was. "Crap..."

The officers turned around to the guard again, the first one speaking. "What... what do you mean?"

"Who told you about the deal?"

"Oh, that!" said the second officer. "Well, have you heard of a little shit called Ryu?"

"That ass-hole?" The guard huffed out some air. "Fuckin' figures it'd be him... just a small-time pickpocket always looking to take a cut of the big things." The guard then smiled. "But luckily, he doesn't know what we've got coming."

"And what is it that you have coming, exactly?" asked the first officer.

"Oh, it's some good shit!" The guard smiled. "I can't really tell too much else about it, especially to someone who ain't part of the main deal, but when you get back to your boys, you tell them about what's happening. I'll put in a good word for the boss."

"Thank you," said the officer. "We'll let our boys know."

They both split and said their goodbyes, and Tails wiped the side of his head. "I can't believe how close that was!"

Shadow kept peering through the binoculars, seeing the guard finish his sandwich as the door opened. Out walked a large Mobian horse, scarred up on the left side of his face. He had dark eyes, and he seemed to be looking at the guard who just made the deal with seething anger before shouting up to the officers.

"Hey!" he bellowed. "Are you two here about the... goods?"

"We're here to recommend a buyer who's very interested, yes," said the officer.

"Well, how about a little bit of extra information on me? Free of charge?" He smiled, extending his hand. "I'm Barrett. I run this spot. I run the ins and outs of every deal that passes through this part of the city. And tomorrow is a very important deal indeed. And, if your friends are going to be there to help, I want to make sure that you're not going to screw us over."

"What is happening?" Knuckles asked.

"Of course," said the officer, shaking Barrett's hand. "So... what do you need?"

"Tomorrow, just make sure that they get here for the deal. The shipment comes in around midday, and since my guys seemed to accept your peace offering, I don't see the harm in your guys bringing something else tomorrow," said Barrett. "Something that... isn't food..."

The second officer nodded. "We can do that. We'll come up with something for you."

"Wonderful!" Barrett smiled. "All right, I'll see you tomorrow for the deal. And remember to hold up your end."

The officer nodded again, shaking hands with the horse before both officers turned to leave. They got back in their car to drive away, and soon after, Shadow gathered up his equipment and got everyone back up from the rooftops, taking them all back down to the ground before they moved to meet the officers in an alley.

"You get all of that?" asked the first officer.

"It was weird seeing Barrett just step out," said Sonic. "Thanks for the help."

"Any time," the other officer said. "Now, we need to get back to the station and write up a report. You guys get some rest for tomorrow."

Tails shook hands with the officers before they left, turning back to the others. "I know a good hotel where we can stay at."

"Let's get going," said Sonic. "Got to rest up for tomorrow."

And so, they got to the hotel, booking some rooms to sleep in and turning in for the night.

* * *

 **Man, I missed writing this story! I hope that you enjoyed and that it was worth the wait! Next time will be... well, more of this here story, obviously. But there is other stuff on the way soon. Until then, take care, and stay tuned!**


	7. Order Of The Day

The next morning, the freelancers had woken up. They got dressed, got some breakfast, and they decided to convene in the room that Sonic had booked so that they could further discuss their plan. With the exception of Sonic, everyone else was sat down on a seat of some sort. The blue hedgehog took a sip of some coffee before speaking.

"So, last night went down with a surprising amount of success," Sonic spoke. "And thanks to the help from our friends here, we're going to be moving on to the next part of the plan today."

"That peace offering worked wonders," Knuckles said. "If I'd have known that most successful infiltration missions started by buying someone lunch, we'd have fewer wounds."

Sonic chuckled at that. "We only have a couple of hours before the shipment gets here. We need to go over the plan a bit more with the guards who helped us. And... we may need to rely on Ryu again."

"What for?" asked Tails.

"Well, we won't be able to get into Barrett's base without proving that we belong there. We're only going to send in two of us, so we need to make it believable."

"Who are you thinking it should be?" asked Knuckles.

"I was thinking Shadow and I," Sonic said. "He'd be able to get the most observation, and I'm a pretty good bullshitter. Except for all the times I tell Amy that I love her. That's true."

"Aw... you love your girlfriend!" Tails chuckled. "I knew you were a big softy."

"Hey, let's not forget, big red over there recently got engaged," Sonic smiled.

"If that's an attempt to be my best man, you're failing spectacularly," Knuckles smiled. "So, if you and Shadow are going into the base, what's the plan for me and Tails?"

"Tails is going to stay in the car with you. You're both going to be monitoring us, as we will be wired. If need be, Knuckles, you come in with something heavy. If possible, get the guards that helped us before."

"That sounds like a good plan," Tails said. "If you can, try to get a good look at all of the entrances and exits of the place. I'll take pictures and try to guide you around."

Shadow nodded. "I guess that the pictures I took didn't get enough of the building, then."

"Regrettably, no, but the fact that you caught that building was pretty impressive," Sonic said. "It helped a lot."

"And after we get what we want, we spring the attack and take the urn, right?" Shadow asked.

Sonic nodded. "Right. We won't be able to use anything heavy if we want to mitigate casualties, though. Just the stunner pistols. Maybe some grenades. Knuckles takes care of the heavy stuff."

"Don't I always?" the red echidna asked.

The blue hedgehog chuckled. "All right, let's check out and go see about Ryu. I just made a good morning sound bad, didn't I?"

"A little bit, yeah," said Tails.

The four all got up, going to the front desk to check out of the hotel. They didn't waste time in searching out the alleyway where Ryu was. The black cat was leaning back against a wall, whistling to himself as a pair of headphones were stuck to his ears. He didn't notice the presence of the agents.

"Hello?" Sonic asked. "Yo, you there?"

"Wonder what he's listening to?" Knuckles asked.

Shadow teleported behind Ryu, putting his ear close to the headphones before teleporting back to the agents. "I think it's Dragged Under."

"Dammit... I hate the guy, but that's some good music," Sonic said. "All right, let's go ask for his help. Yay."

The four walked over, tapping Ryu on the shoulder. Ryu turned to look at them, sighing as he paused his music and took his headphones down, draping them around his neck. "What?"

"So... you know how you gave us that info about Barrett yesterday before you tried robbing us again?" Sonic asked.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? It's been a slow week. Those customers I got yesterday were literally my only ones, I got desperate, and also, I really like antagonising you." Ryu pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why are you bringing that guy up to me, anyway? Do you need my help?"

"You see, we are going to try and get inside their base of operations," said Sonic, "but we may need some contraband of sorts if we want to get in their good books..."

"A cop buying drugs?" Ryu said, reaching into his jacket. "I really need to start upping my prices."

"We don't need a lot," said Sonic. "Just give us some marijuana or something."

"And would you like to pay for it with cash or credit?" Ryu asked sarcastically. He found a couple of bags in one of his jacket pockets, handing them over.

"Whichever option doesn't involve us opening our wallets up to you," Sonic said. "But... you did say it had been a slow week... but you also tried stealing my money yesterday... I don't know whether to pay you or punch you."

"How about my payment is you not punching me?" Ryu suggested. "I like that option a lot."

"Done deal," Sonic said. "I'm not saying thanks, though."

"Didn't expect you to," said Ryu. "Have fun trying not to get murdered!"

Sonic snorted and turned around, being followed by the other agents. They got over to their car, reaching in to grab some sidearms, as well as grenades. All four of them got the weapons, even though only two of them were going to be at the sale, and Shadow even added a knife to his ensemble. When they were kitted up and ready to go, Knuckles and Tails hopped in the car.

"You get to the building and scout from the rooftop," Sonic said. "You're our guide up there, okay?"

"I heard you the first time," Tails smirked. "But we'll get there. Good luck."

"You too," Shadow nodded.

The two hedgehogs then broke from the group. So as not to look suspicious, they walked separately from Tails and Knuckles, and were on their way to the pawn shop. Sonic did a quick dash around the back of it to look for a CCTV camera, the same one that Shadow had spotted the previous day, and he returned to the black and red hedgehog.

"This is the place all right," Sonic said.

Shadow checked his watch. "We have some time to kill. We should go find those officers that helped us. See if they have any more information."

"We could do with getting some food too," Sonic suggested. "Another peace offering for Barrett. It worked last night, so."

"And plus, we need those guards to be there anyway," Shadow added. "Barrett so far only trusts them, or at least he believes that they're not, you know, police officers who had to go undercover for us. They are our trick to getting in there. I feel like if Barrett sees familiar faces, he could get used to new ones."

"So, we're turning up to the bad guys' base with weed, guns, food, and two good men?" asked Sonic.

"For what it's worth, I don't like the idea either," Shadow sighed. "But it's the best shot we have if we want an in."

"Yeah... you're right... but still, where could they be?" Sonic wondered.

"Well, they went to their station last night to write those reports, but they should be back on patrol... right about now." He looked up and saw a Scrap Metal branded police car. "There they are."

The two officers inside the car drove along the road, honking at Sonic and Shadow, who waved back in reply. The officers found a place to park their car, cutting the engine off as they walked over to the two Mobians. One of the officers had some coffee in his hand, drinking it carefully.

"How did the report filing go?" Sonic asked, chuckling.

"About as fun as you'd expect," said the first officer, the one not drinking coffee. "But I'm fine with that. In this city, you don't need big booms of action to get you by."

"Well, you may be experiencing some soon, for which we apologise in advance," Shadow said.

"So, what can we help you boys with today?" asked the second officer, taking a sip.

"We need your guys' help again," Sonic said. "I know that you probably don't want to hear that, but since Barrett seemed to really hit it off with you guys last night, we figured that it'd be easier to get in with you there."

"Is it you two making the deal?" asked the first officer.

Shadow nodded. "That'd be us. Tails and Knuckles are observing." He opened his pocket up. "We've got some bugs to plant around the base when we get in too. Tails is going to observe it and help us around."

"Once we get in there, you two are going to stay outside, probably keep any guards busy," Sonic added. "Shadow and I are going to work on the inside, get what needs to be gotten, then we'll take them out from the inside."

The coffee drinking officer checked his watch. "It's about time for the meeting too. We should get some food to them."

"Yeah... we've also got that extra something that isn't food for them too..." Sonic said.

"Ryu?" the officer asked.

"It's like you're a mind-reader," Sonic scoffed. "Yeah, it's just some weed. You're not going to arrest us, are you?" he winked.

"For you, I'll make an exception," the other officer replied. "Ryu, on the other hand..."

"Oh, by all means," said Shadow. "All right, let's go get some food."

The officers nodded, as did Sonic, and the group of them went around to the same food stall from yesterday. They got some ham and cheese sandwiches, and after paying, they made the long trek over to the pawn shop, going around the back of it. The two officers went ahead first, greeting the guard at the front.

"You're here for Barrett, right?" the guard asked.

The officer nodded. "That we are."

The guard spoke into his shoulder-mounted radio, and soon, Barrett had opened the door, smiling upon seeing the officers. "Ah, it's you two again!" He reached to shake their hands. "A pleasure to do business with you!"

"We appreciate the gesture," said the first officer, "but we're just here to drop off the actual buyers."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Bring them out here!" Barrett smiled.

"I've been meaning to ask," said the officer, "what makes you so cheery about all of this?"

"I feel like it's important to make fellow customers feel at ease," Barrett said. "I know that what men like us do isn't the most legal line of work, but that's no reason to take it so seriously. It makes people nervous otherwise."

"Huh. That actually makes sense," said the officer. "All right, I'll go get them for you."

"If you wouldn't mind," said Barrett, maintaining his politeness.

The officer turned to go around the corner, seeing Sonic and Shadow waiting. "They're ready for you."

Shadow nodded. "Let's do this."

The officer brought them around to the back of the pawn shop, and Barrett looked over them, grinning. "Ah... you must be the buyers?"

Sonic nodded. "That we are."

Barrett walked over, extending a cloven hand to shake with the blue hedgehog. "Well, it's nice to meet you! I trust that you're going to do some good with the urn?"

"That we are," Sonic said. "What's the plan after we take it off your hands?"

Barrett looked around. "Hmm... I'll tell you when it gets here. You can't be too careful in a city that hardly has anything happening."

"Considering that this city seems to grow nice people in its soil, I don't blame you," said Shadow. "Even folk such as you, doing the business that you're doing, are almost unnervingly kind."

The horse smiled. "Why not take some pride in one's work?"

"That is a good point," Sonic smiled. "So, what do we do while we wait?"

Barrett nodded. "Right. Well, since you're going to be taking it off my hands and moving it somewhere else soon, I suppose there's no harm in showing you around. It's a small place, but we have enough room to accommodate you, should you wish to stay."

"Don't just talk, big fella, show us."

Barrett chuckled, turning around to look at one of the guards. "Make sure that the two officers stay outside."

"Yes, sir."

Barrett showed his thanks with another nod, and the door was opened up. The large horse walked inside, followed by the two hedgehogs, who took in the place. Mostly black in decor, and as Barrett had said, it wasn't large. It had some guards patrolling, all holding guns, and there was an oval-shaped table in the middle where several of Barrett's men were playing cards. One of them cheered as he slammed some cards down.

"Two pair!" He smiled.

Another played chuckled, showing his hand. "Three of a kind."

"What a coincidence!" said a third player. "Full house!"

Barrett cleared his throat in the direction of the card game as the third player raked in his chips. "We have guests!"

"The delivery's not coming for another half hour," said one of the losing players. "They can wait."

"They're here to buy in," Barrett said.

The player who just spoke sighed, getting up and walking away from the table. He set eyes on Sonic and Shadow, specifically, the former, and his eyes squinted a bit in curiosity. "You... look familiar..."

Sonic looked back at the man. "I'm not sure that we've met before."

"Well, of course!" Barrett said. "We've not done business before!"

"That reminds me," Sonic said, "we've been rude. We've not given our names. I'm Sonic, and Captain Smiley here is Shadow."

Shadow nodded towards Barrett, peeking around. "Nice to meet you."

"You seem uneasy..." said Barrett, walking up to the black and red hedgehog. "Is my cheery demeanour unnerving you?"

"It's probably my fault," said Shadow. "I don't do cheery that often."

Barrett nodded. "Well, why not take a look around if you're curious? We'll let you know when the delivery comes in."

"We appreciate it," Sonic said, shaking hands with Barrett again. "We won't take long."

"And neither will the delivery," said another one at the poker table. "We should probably wrap this up."

"What, afraid to keep losing cash?" asked another player.

"Hell, I'll pay you back," said the first. "When our money comes in from those two."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Barrett said. "When it comes to the payment, we do prefer the money up front. This isn't exactly an easy transaction, and I understand it if you wish to wait until the delivery gets here. It does need a stamp of authenticity, after all." Barrett grinned harmlessly. "But, until that time, please, take a look."

"We will," Sonic said, nodding again.

Barrett smiled and sat over with his men at the poker table, helping them to pack up. As they did, Shadow and Sonic looked around at all the guards, seeing any entrances and exits, and Shadow took pictures with a small camera mounted on his chest, hidden under some carefully constructed nanotechnology.

On the other end, Tails got the photos sent through, taking a look. "Hmm... this really is pretty small scale for what could be a big payoff... the guards have basic assault rifles and pistols, some have knives... there's an exit where you came in, one past the left side that leads to the main pawn shop, and one other side door. Looks like it leads to a parking lot of sorts. There's only a couple of cars there."

Knuckles spoke next. "The officers are staying outside, talking with the guards. And before you say it, I know. This is the most exciting commentary you've ever heard."

Over at the table, after it was packed up, one of Barrett's men slammed a hand on the table in frustration. "Fuck!"

"You should have been there, man! It was sick!" said another man.

"What happened?" Sonic called over.

The angry man spoke up first. "I had a lot of money against Green Hill at that hockey game, and they won! Dammit!"

The second man chuckled. "I told you to come with me. It's not my fault that you were running an errand at the time."

"Shut up before I stab you," the first one said.

"Whoa, there's no need for such violence!" said Barrett. "It's only a game. Why do you have to be mad?"

"Because I wasted $300 on Star Light to win it." He slapped the table again. "Fucking hell..."

"Eh, you win some, you lose some," said one of the poker players, grinning. "And you've lost a lot. You'd better pay up, boy."

"Just relax, okay?" Barrett said. "If we're doing this deal, we need to remain collected and maintain ourselves."

Tails then spoke over the earpiece to Sonic and Shadow. "Huh... looks like the delivery is on the way. There's a truck passing through, and it looks pretty suspicious."

Then, one of the guards outside spoke into his radio. "Boss! The truck's here!"

"Ah, it's finally time!" Barrett smiled. "All right, look alive, people! The order of the day is here!"

The guards got ready, packing up the stuff from the table and grabbing any weapons. Sonic and Shadow were asked by Barrett to follow him out, so they did. They saw the two officers outside, who peered at the truck as it drove up. Sonic saw the trailer on the truck's back, and the vehicle itself drove a bit past them so that it was more out of sight and easier for those involved with the deal to see it.

The person driving the truck got out of it, spotting Barrett and grinning, reaching to shake a hand with him. "Good to see you!"

"Likewise!" said Barrett. "So... the urn is there, yes?"

The driver nodded, but then saw Sonic and Shadow. "Are those two new?"

"They're the carriers," said Barrett. "After we get what we need from the urn, they're going to drop it off at the next stop."

"Well, the people on the other side to switch their workers around," said the driver. He opened up the back of the truck, pulling the urn out with him on a carrier. "Where do you want it?"

"Just on the ground is fine," said Barrett, smiling as he peeked around the inside of the truck. "We'll take it in and handle the rest from there."

The driver nodded, leaving it on the ground and taking the carrier from under it. He put the carrier back on the truck, and as he did, Knuckles managed to get a good look inside the truck with his binoculars. His eyes widened, and he handed the binoculars to Tails, who almost gasped.

"Jesus..." he said over the radio. "They've got a lot more than just Fokus in there. There's a lot of cash in there too."

Knuckles spoke after. "We'll get the license plate and truck model down. This is a mission we might have to take on our own when we get the time."

"Thank you," Sonic said. He noticed Shadow looking at him, then he cleared his throat. "Uh, thank you for dropping this off."

"Hmm..." The driver suspiciously looked at Sonic. "You really are new at this... but, whatever. Just do your business, all right?"

The driver then got in his truck, starting it back up and driving off with a wave to Barrett. Soon, the truck was gone, and Barrett had a couple of his men carry the urn inside of the hideout. Sonic and Shadow followed suit soon after, and eventually, all the men were gathered around a table to see the urn opening for the first time.

"All right, let's see what we've got here..." Barrett took out a key and turned the lock on the urn, and it soon opened up. He smiled, looking inside... but then his face turned upside down. "This... this isn't what we were after..."

"What is it?" Sonic asked.

Barrett shook his head. "There's nothing... how is there nothing there?"

Sonic and Shadow both pressed something on their chests, the nanomachines slowly spreading over their bodies. "Right... see, that's the thing..." Sonic said.

"We know where the urn is," Shadow said. "But we're not going to tell you..."

"What... what is this?" Barrett asked, huffing.

"Oh, now I get it..." said one of his guards. "That's how I know the blue guy! He was on that hockey game the other night!"

"Oh, yeah... it is him!" Barrett said. "But why is a hockey fan trying to screw me out of business?"

"Well, a business has to be beneficial on both sides, that much is certain," Shadow said. He looked around as the lights started to dim. "But sometimes, the best deals are done under the table..."

The lights then went out, and a TV screen flickered behind the guards. They all looked to see Tails, Knuckles, and the two officers from earlier, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of several of the guards. Not long after, the truck driver walked into frame, flipping a bird before taking off his shirt, revealing a Scrap Metal Police Department badge underneath.

"But... the urn..." said Barrett.

"It was a fake," Sonic replied. "And while I remember, Knuckles, Tails, good acting on your part too."

Barrett growled. "You knew we were watching them?"

"We scoped out your whole building yesterday. Of course we picked up on the snipers," Shadow said. "But among them were also a couple of people with some surprisingly good tech. We had to make it look good."

"And the counterfeit money?" asked another guard.

"Oh, that was real cash from the Scrap Metal bank," Sonic said. "We had to borrow it, but now, it's safely on its way back." He was soon covered in his nanosuit, as was Shadow. "As you can see," the blue hedgehog continued, "you've been had."

"What are you?" asked Barrett.

Shadow grinned as the lights went out completely. "We're the freelancers."

Sonic and Shadow were damn near invisible, and after the lights went out, Barrett panicked. He pulled a gun out, staying close to the table and the urn. "Show yourselves!"

"My, my," said Shadow's voice, "losing that charming demeanour, are we?"

Barrett shuddered as a guard was heard thudding to the floor, the sound of it being the only indicator that one of the freelance agents was close by. He aimed his gun in that direction, firing, and missing. Another guard dropped next to him, face first on the poker table. Panicking more, Barrett fired a blind shot in the dark, but nothing came of it.

"You might want to pick your aim a bit more carefully," Sonic said as another body fell next to Barrett.

"You think he gets the picture yet?" Shadow asked. "Or do we have to make it simpler for him?"

Another body fell, then another, and then another. Barrett fired some more shots, but his aim was stopped as a hand reached for his wrist. His arm was then turned behind his back, forcing him to drop his gun, which was then kicked away. He grunted in pain was he was held against the table.

"I hope that this is simple enough," Sonic said. "All right, you guys can come in now. We're about done."

The front doors then opened up, and Knuckles and Tails walked in, accompanied by the officers from earlier. Tails was the first to speak as the lights in the building wen back up. "I wish that I could have seen it. We only got to hear it."

Knuckles gestured to the bodies. "You made quick work of these guys too."

"Well, they're still alive," Sonic pointed out. "Now we just need to wait for the Scrap Metal vehicles to get here."

"In the meantime," said Tails, "it wouldn't hurt to get some answers from Barrett while we can. I mean, we can run our own missions nowadays."

Barrett shook his head. "I may try to be cordial, but I don't sell out my business associates."

"Really?" Sonic asked. "Well, lucky for you, we've got plenty of time. We don't even have to leave you to get picked up here. We could take you to the station right now, if we wanted to."

Barrett huffed against the table. "I'm not going to talk to you..."

One of the officers spoke up. "Sonic! Whitney's here!"

Before the blue hedgehog could react, in walked several Scrap Metal officers, all moving to pick up the unconscious criminals, and all wearing the signature S.M.P.D. uniform. Mostly black with some silver, it was noted for its symbol of a shield in front of a sword, also silver in colour, with black lettering standing out in bold against it.

Behind those officers, Whitney walked in. He was a tall and bulky human, with dark skin and some tattoos on that very skin. His dark eyes had a kindness to them, and a black beard was wrapped around a mouth which was currently smiling widely. Whitney walked over to shake Sonic's hand.

"Good work!" he said. "Thank you for doing all of this."

"Eh, it was a solo mission, but as long as we get to help you out, it's worth it," said Knuckles.

"It wasn't a solo mission if he gave us passes into the city, muscles," Tails said.

"Oh... yeah..." Knuckles cleared his throat. "Thanks for that."

"And thanks for letting us use that fake urn," Sonic said. "I mean, we couldn't use the real one for... obvious reasons."

"That reason being that it's at Avery's base?" Whitney grinned.

"No wonder the crime rate's so low here," Barrett interrupted. "You have the mind of a scholar!"

Shadow kicked Barrett in the side of the leg. "Sorry about him. He doesn't know when he should and shouldn't talk."

Whitney nodded. "Would you kindly help him to one of our cars?"

"It's the least that we could do with all of your help," Sonic said, following Scrap Metal's commander. "Again, thank you for that."

"Ah, thank you for helping our city stay a little bit cleaner," Whitney replied. "And besides, it was fun to have some of my men get to work. But... do try and keep Ryu from getting in too over his head. We'd take him in, but it's just getting embarrassing, honestly."

Sonic smiled. "When he's not being a scumbag, he's not too terrible." He helped put Barrett in the back of the car, his hands cuffed behind his back. "So, what are you going to do next?"

Whitney shrugged. "Take these guys back to our holding cells, see if they know anything. Do you have anything that could help in that regard?"

Sonic scratched the back of his head. "They said that they were taking it somewhere else. This was just a drop-off. Which may not make a lot of sense, since Nack said that the people dropping the urn here weren't supposed to be dropping here."

"So, you think someone was trying to pull a fast one on Nack?" asked Whitney.

"If that's the case, why would it be a pair of low-end identity thieves?" Sonic asked. "Nack himself said that they weren't worth his time. Then again, maybe that's why they were trying to move whatever was in that urn up this way. It makes sense that they wouldn't tell him."

"Whatever the case may be," said Whitney, "you'll find out soon enough. You should pay him a visit tomorrow."

"And hopefully, you'll be able to find out where they were supposed to be going next," the blue hedgehog nodded.

"I'll send the word out if I do," Whitney nodded back. "All right... we should head off. Again, thank you for your assistance."

"And thank you for yours," Sonic said, extending his hand.

Whitney shook it and smiled, turning to head over to his car. He gave another wave before his car took off, followed by others. Soon, the truck that one of the officers borrowed was following them, with its holographic design disappearing to reveal an S.M.P.D. truck underneath it.

"Man... that's just cool," Knuckles said. "So, what's the plan now?"

"Head back home," said Sonic. "Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to Nack again. We need to find a way of getting into that urn."

Tails checked the time on his phone. "It's getting pretty late. Sonic, you want a drop off to Amy's?"

"Oh, that reminds me," Sonic said. "I need to call her. I hope she's not mad."

"Eh, she understands that you had a mission," Shadow said. "I'm sure that you're safe. Let's just get home, yeah?"

"Only if we can get some lunch on the way," Knuckles added.

"Jade Mountain stop it is," said Tails.

The blue hedgehog nodded in agreement, and they headed back to their car, soon driving on their way back to Green Hill. They stopped by Jade Mountain to get their food, taking it home with them. They sat around their kitchen table, putting on the news on TV as they ate.

"And the freelance agents stopped an attempted smuggling ring in Scrap Metal City," said the reporter. "A Mobian horse named Barrett and his gang were rounded up and taken to Scrap Metal's prison, with the help of some of our local officers."

"That was us!" Knuckles said proudly. "We did that!"

"We had help, numb-Knucks," Sonic smirked. "From more than one source."

"That reminds me," Shadow said, "are you going to talk to Nack tomorrow?"

"I'm going to try to." Sonic paused to take another bite of his food. "It might be worth seeing what he has for us, if he has anything."

"I still don't get it," said Tails. "Nack said that the twins weren't even meant to be moving anything to Scrap Metal. So... where were they planning on going next?"

"It might be worth asking the twins," said Knuckles. "They still have time before they're moved up to the penitentiary, right?"

"As far as I know, yeah," Sonic said. "I guess that's the plan, then. I go talk to Nack, you guys talk to Henry and Kitty."

"Sounds good," said Shadow. "But what's the plan for now?"

"Chill, eat food, get some rest for tomorrow," Sonic replied. "And maybe a video game tournament too."

"See? That's a good plan," Shadow smiled.

Sonic shook his head, and they finished their food, eventually having their video game tournament, which Knuckles won. After that was done, they carried on as normal before deciding to check in for bed. They each took a shower before deciding to head to bed. Sonic was the last to shower, looking at his stomach in the mirror and seeing the scar there.

"Wish I knew what was wrong with it..." He shook his head, then heard his phone ring. He picked it up and smiled. "Hey, Ames."

"Hey, stud," Amy smiled on the other end. "So, how was your mission?"

"It went well," Sonic said. "We set up a fake urn and some planted officers... it went quite well."

"That's good!" Amy said, pausing for a bit. "Sorry. Was taking some of my tablets."

"You haven't been forgetting, have you?" Sonic asked.

"No, no, I just... I guess that I got excited when I heard that you were back," Amy said. "I got nervous."

"Nerves aren't good for the old ticker," Sonic said. "And since yours has a condition, you should keep it in check."

"I know," Amy giggled. "I'll look after myself better, dad."

Sonic shook his head, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "You have a good day at work?"

"Yeah, well, it's not as exciting as stopping some drugs," Amy giggled, "but we did have fun doing some painting in class. It's fun, but it's a bitch to wash off, it turns out."

"Ooh..." Sonic grimaced, wincing audibly. "Paint fight?"

"No, I just had an accident with one of the small tubs. Luckily, the kids didn't start a riot afterwards. That would have been very awkward to explain to their parents."

Sonic chuckled. "Sounds like you had fun."

His girlfriend giggled again. "I did." She then yawned. "Well, babe, it was nice to talk to you, but I should sleep. I have class in the morning."

"And I have a criminal to talk to," Sonic replied. "In many ways, our jobs are the same."

Amy laughed at that. "I guess so! Hehe. All right, I'll talk to you tomorrow. I... I love you."

Sonic blushed. "I love you too..."

Amy then hung up, and Sonic did the same. He found it difficult to stop smiling... before reaching down and feeling the scar on his stomach. He gulped a bit before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

* * *

 **Sorry that this one took a bit longer. I had a cold in the week, so I wasn't writing as much. But it's gone now, so yay! I hope that you liked this chapter. The next one will be delayed as I'm going to be doing a one-shot next, then it's back to this story. Until the next one, take care, and stay tuned!**


	8. War Meeting

Nack woke up the next morning, the sounds or the prison guards' voices being his alarm clock. He made sure to keep the needle that he had in his mouth, and he turned to see a familiar face on the other end of the prison bars.

"Ah, Gerren! It's good to see you again," Nack said.

The bald guard smiled politely. "I wish that I could say the same. It's Sunday. That means a cell check." He started opening the cell door with his keys. "Everyone's getting one, and it's best to get it out of the way now before anything else."

"Then, by all means, feel free to take a gander," Nack said.

Gerren opened the door proper, and Nack stood to one side. The guard took a look around the cell, checking under Nack's bed, then checking the toilet cistern. He then searched around the bed again, checking on the pillow and lifting the mattress. Satisfied, he looked to Nack, who seemed pleased with himself.

"Well? Good enough for you?" the purple weasel asked.

Gerren nodded. "Keep up the good work. Your schedule today is to go as usual, but without the visit to Schneider."

"Shame. I've started to miss the old man," Nack chuckled.

Gerren smiled. "Well, you're still getting a visit from Sonic. On the weekend, no less."

Nack nodded back, going about his daily routine in the penitentiary. He did his work with the other prisoners, had lunch, and he managed to stay out of trouble as well. The only thing he had to do after talking to Sonic was more work, then came some free time with other prisoners, if he so desired.

Just outside, Sonic had slid up to the front doors of the penitentiary on his hover-board. He parked it, walked inside the building, and got himself checked in, seeing other familiar visitors, as well as other prisoners sat alone. One of those sat alone was Nack himself, and Sonic swallowed the lump in his throat before heading over.

"Ah, there he is!" Nack said. "Just the man that I wanted to see!"

Sonic shook his head. "Nack... I wish that I could say the same."

"Oh, come on now. I know that I gave you that tip, but I didn't expect that you'd be back here so soon," Nack said. "This is a good thing."

"First of all, stop talking to me like we're friends," Sonic growled. "Secondly, you won't think so highly of me when you hear what I have to say."

"Fine. Suit yourself." Nack sniffled his nose. "So, what do you have for me? Was my tip any good?"

The blue hedgehog nodded. "It was. We scoped out a place behind an old pawn shop being headed up by a horse Mobian named Barrett. Ridiculously nice guy for what he was up to."

"And what was he up to?"

"Me and the others had to pose undercover to get in. He was having the urn delivered to him, then after getting what he needed out of it, he said he was going to send it off to the next destination."

"And where might that be?"

"We don't know yet," Sonic said. "We're planning on asking him when I'm done talking with you."

"Hmm... Barrett is one of my better workers as well... but I didn't know that he was trying to move anything. I already told you that the Lang siblings shouldn't have been trafficking stuff over there, and now I find that Barrett was involved? I don't much like that..."

Sonic looked him over. "You really didn't know?"

"I did not," Nack shook his head. "Say, how did you pull it off, anyway?"

"Copied the urn. Used some fake money and some police confiscated Fokus, courtesy of Scrap Metal's finest."

"Good work," Nack grinned. "And I am glad that you stopped him before he could do any lasting damage."

"So... is that it?" Sonic asked. "You're glad that we stopped him? You don't have anything else to add?"

"Actually, if it's not too much to ask, I would like to request a conference with Barrett when he gets transferred over here. I would very much like to know where he planned to move that urn when he was done with it."

"I can't just do that on my own. I'm freelance, remember? We can set up our own missions, but the extend of our authority isn't quite that high."

"Well, I do have incentive," Nack smiled. "I got word that another of my former partners tried going straight right here in Green Hill. But she hasn't been keeping true to her promise, shall we say."

"What's she been doing to get under your radar?" Sonic asked.

"Enough to go from under that radar to under my skin," Nack growled. "Her name is Mona. She's a human. Blonde hair, green eyes, early twenties. She started working at a sandwich shop in east Star Light, and she's been dealing with a dodgy outside buyer to sneak drugs in as an attempt to boost their business. Her boss doesn't know, only one coworker is aware of it when he's not stoned out of his head, and the buyer in question was always one of my competitions."

"Does this other buyer have a name?" Sonic asked.

"He's another Mobian. A weasel, like me. We're not related, in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't and I don't care," Sonic shrugged.

"His name is Zayd. He's got black fur. And he's been a thorn in my side for some time now."

"Does he have a main place he works from?"

"Anywhere that's as far away from me as possible," said Nack. "Even I don't know where he is half of the time. Point is, you find Mona, you try and get Zayd's location out of her, then you find Zayd."

"Hmm..." Sonic shook his head. "All right... surprisingly, I don't have a reason to start doubting you. But I also don't have a reason to start trusting you."

"I expect nothing less, to be honest," Nack chuckled. "But, you do need to hold up your end."

"How do I do that?"

"Talk to Schneider. You should be able to convince him. After all, he actually likes you."

"Well, I'm a likeable guy," Sonic chuckled. "All right, I'll see what I can do. But before I leave, do you have any requests for the Lang siblings?"

"Hmm... for that meeting with Barrett, make sure that they're there as well," Nack said. "I'd like to talk to them all at once. Maybe I could get some answers that way."

"I'll see what I can do," Sonic said. "All right, let's get you back to your cell."

"Taking me there yourself?" Nack smirked.

"If only," Sonic shook his head.

Two of the guards there stood besides Nack, and the weasel sighed, nodding. He stood up with them, being walked back to his cell. Sonic walked alongside them, not seeing Nack all the way to his cell, instead breaking off from the the others to go to the warden's office. Inside, Hermann Schneider was wearing reading glasses as he typed on his computer, his gaze turning up to see Sonic.

"Ah, Sonic! This is quite the surprise!" Schneider stood up, reaching a hand out. "It's been quite some time, despite you visiting here regularly to talk to the worst of the worst."

"Don't let Nack hear you say that," Sonic said, shaking his hand. "He might like it."

Schneider chuckled. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, it pains me to admit it, but Nack has given me and my team a lot of good information. Thanks to him, we've almost filled this prison to the brim with bad guys. All in about a year and a half too."

"That is true, but I get the sense that you want something from me," Schneider chuckled.

Sonic nodded. "This coming Friday, when the prisoners get transferred, Nack wants a meeting with three of them. Henry and Kitty Lang, and a Mobian horse named Barrett."

"The Langs I know about, but this Barrett fellow is new," Schneider admitted. "Still... this could be tricky to pull off. Even for me as the warden." He gave Sonic a stern look over his glasses. "And yet... neither of us can fully doubt him, can we?"

Sonic let a small smile reach his lips. "You heard that on the camera footage, huh?"

"Sonic, I'm the warden. It's my job to know about all of these things." He nodded. "But, while it does pain me to do this... I will grant Nack his request. He will have his war meeting, as it were."

The blue hedgehog stood up and nodded. "Thank you for this, sir."

"I hope you make it worth it," Schneider said. "I hope that, when next you walk into my office, that it's not to request something similar in the future."

"If it makes you feel better, I'll try and bring some Jade Mountain with me." Sonic smiled, nodding. "I'll see you next weekend, possibly."

Schneider nodded again. "You take care now."

Sonic got out of his seat, shaking hands with the warden again before turning to leave out of the door. As he did, he saw Nack being let out of his cell, being walked down to the work area by a couple of guards. As their eyes met, Nack couldn't hide his grin, and Sonic shook his head, getting back to leaving the building. He got to his hover-board, taking it back to the freelancer's headquarters. He parked his board and typed the code to get in.

"Ah, there he is," Knuckles said. "You left before breakfast. You'd better eat up before you die of scurvy."

Sonic smiled. "I won't lie. Some days, that is a preferable alternative to your cooking."

"It's a good thing you can't fuck up a bowl of cereal then, huh?" Knuckles grinned.

"With you, anything is possible."

"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up," Knuckles sighed.

Sonic went to the living room to sit down, looking around but not seeing Shadow or Tails anywhere. "Where are Captain Smiley and the Puffball Kid?"

"They ain't here," Knuckles said. "Shadow's working security at the bank with Maria, Tails is trying to get some early morning delight with Cosmo."

"Not as good as afternoon delight, but what do I know?"

"If Ron Burgundy says it, then it is law," Knuckles smiled. He stepped out from the kitchen island to give Sonic some cereal. "So, how'd the meeting with Nack go?"

"About as well as usual. Once again, he was thankful that we dealt with one of his problems. But considering that he didn't know how long this particular urn thing with Barrett was going on for, he was a bit unsure on how to take it."

Knuckles ate some of his breakfast. "He didn't know?"

Sonic nodded. "He didn't know."

"You know, I find it convenient that he just never knows. He knew about the Lang siblings, knew about the urn, knew where they were moving it, but he didn't know who they were moving it to." The red echidna shook his head. "I can't believe you're still listening to him."

"Us listening to him is keeping bad guys off the streets," Sonic said. "I don't like him. At all. As a matter of fact, if I recall correctly, I went through a lot of hell to arrest him and to save you and the others." It was the blue hedgehog's turn to shake his head now. "If he knew, he would have said so. He's done it before. And I will tell you the same thing that I told him: I don't trust him, but I don't have much reason to doubt him, either."

Knuckles kept his mouth shut, knowing that Sonic did have a point. "It's okay for us to still hate him, right?"

"Oh, totally," Sonic said, smiling. "I don't like him. He never asked me to like him, and I have no reason to. But the information that he gives us is good."

"Yeah... I guess so," Knuckles said. "So, what's the plan with Nack? What tip did he give you?"

"There's someone up in Star Light who's been making bad deals with a bad dude," Sonic said. "I'll tell you the rest when the others get back. Better to have everyone else around so that we can whip up a good plan."

"Smart thinking," Knuckles nodded. "Now, eat your cereal. You're a growing boy, after all."

* * *

 **Back at Green Hill Penitentiary...**

* * *

The rest of Nack's day was the usual for him. He did his work, got his lunch, and now it was his time to enjoy some peace and quiet. Under the watchful eyes of the security cameras and more than a few of the prison guards, he made his way to the library, looking for a visual book.

The library itself was a surprisingly stacked place for information. It was loaded with shelves full of both fiction and non-fiction novels, there were sections for various genres, and each shelf had the option of either being watched, being listened to, or being read through one's own eyes.

Since it wasn't a school library, there was nobody telling them to be quiet. But there were cameras around that watched in case any of the inmates decided that they were in the mood to cause any fuss, an issue that Nack loathed in a place such as this. But he liked that it was quiet there anyway, so he continued to search the shelves.

"See anything you like?" asked an inmate next to him.

"I just started looking, so no," Nack replied. "Why? Is there something here that you'd like?"

"Could... could you reach the top shelf?" The inmate sighed. "I'm not tall enough..."

Nack turned to see that the man wasn't lying. He was also an older person there, somewhere in his eighties, yet he spoke without a hint of aged rasp to his voice. His age did unfortunately lend itself to the man's short stature, and the purple weasel cleared his throat, a bit embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to come off as rude. I'll help you." He looked at the top shelf, comprised of old romance novels. "What would you like?"

"That one near the end on the right side, please," the old man said.

Nack reached up to grab it, seeing a red cover with a beautiful raven-haired model on it. "Here," Nack said.

"Thank you," the elder man replied. "I hope that you don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't expect such kindness from you."

Nack couldn't hide his chuckle. "I'd be more offended if you actually meant that in a good way."

The old man smiled. "That is fair." He looked down at the book. "Say, young Nack, would you like to read with me?"

Nack nodded. "I would, but I don't have a book."

The old man smiled again. "That's all right. I could use the company anyway."

Nack smiled, and the two walked over to a table to sit at before he spoke. "So... who are you? Why are you in here?"

"My name is Ovi," the old man said. "I'm here because of a condition that I couldn't help."

Nack sat still, curious. "Go on."

Ovi nodded. "Son... I suffer from dementia. It's a very dangerous thing. And that very dangerous thing led to a very bad accident. An accident that took my wife, and the life of the child n the vehicle I collided with. The parents sued, I pleaded guilty, and I've been in here ever since."

Nack gulped a bit at that. "I'm sorry to hear that." He stayed still. "How long have you been here?"

"Going on for about eight years after the fact now," Ovi said. "It's fine. I still know who I am and what I did. And if I'm lucky, I'll spend my last days in here instead of some nursing home."

"How is that lucky?"

"Because the company here actually listens to old folks like me," Ovi said. "But I'm sure that you're busy."

"Not at all, actually," said Nack. "After the free time's over, I'm back in my cell for the rest of the day."

"In that case, may I recommend that you take something with you before you go?"

"Of course."

Ovi got out of his chair carefully. Nack offered a hand to help, but the old man declined. After the old man got to his feet, he led Nack to one of the fiction sections, finding something from the comedy section. He handed it over to Nack, who nodded respectfully.

"Thank you," Nack sad. "I'll get a start on it as soon as I'm back at my cell."

"Ah, you can take your time. That one helped me get through my early days here." Ovi smiled. "Maybe it could do the same for you."

Nack was about to respond when a guard called his name. "Nack! You've got a phone call!"

The purple weasel turned to Ovi, thanked him again, and began the trek back to his cell, book in hand. Each cell had a phone attached inside, so there was no need to wait in a long line only to miss a call at the last minute. Nack was again watched over as he reached his cell, picking up the phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hey, handsome," the voice on the other end said.

Nack chuckled. "Lara... so good to hear from you again. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, it's the weekend, we've all worked hard, and I'm... ooh..." Lara moved her head away to let out some moans. "I'm relaxing... enjoying myself..."

Nack smirked. "Sounds like you're enjoying someone else too."

"Yeah... damn, she's good..." Lara moaned. "God, I can't wait to have you back..."

Nack looked around, clearing his throat. "Soon. I don't know when, but soon."

"Hehe... don't keep me waiting..."

"Time's almost up, Nack!" said a guard.

"I'm aware," Nack replied. "I apologise, but I need to go. I'll hear from you sooner rather than later, I hope."

"Soon..." Lara moaned again, louder than previously. "Very soon..."

Nack chuckled, saying goodbye before hanging up the phone. "Very soon..." He turned to see that Gerren was waiting outside of his cell. "Oh. Nice to see you here too."

Gerren smiled. "Have a good call?"

"That I did," Nack nodded, walking to the bars of his cell. "So... I don't ask a lot of you."

Gerren slid his foot back, pushing his boot against the cell bars. "You don't?"

"Very funny..." Nack looked down to see the piece of cloth that slid out from under the guard's boot, quickly sliding it underneath his own shoe and bringing it in to his cell. "There's a man named Ovi. He's an older person here. Has dementia. He's harmless. He knew who I was and approached me without a hint of fear."

"Oh, Ovi," Gerren said. "I know the man. He usually has a guard on watch in case something goes really badly for him. I'll tell his current guard to do a better job of watching over him."

Nack nodded. "I appreciate that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a book to read."

"Enjoy it."

Nack went over to his bed, kicking the piece of cloth quickly up into his hand and putting it under his pillow before picking up the book that Ovi had recommended. He laid back on his bed and began to read it in his head.

* * *

 **In Westopolis...**

* * *

Lara looked down at the Mobian lioness who'd just pleasured her, kissing her and giggling. "Mmm... I needed to take the edge off..."

The lioness purred next to her. "You've got a big drop to pick up today, by the way."

"Ah... a new girl?" Lara smiled. "Martin really has been coming through well with us lately, hasn't he?"

"Should we reward him?"

"Oh, that crooked cop gets rewarded enough," Lara chided. "All right... I should probably get ready and go get what I need. Any clients that are coming in, I leave those to you."

"The perks of being your secretary," the lioness grinned, standing to put a gown on. "I get to fuck you, and I get to pick who else fucks who."

"That's the perks of all of my secretaries, you know," Lara winked, also getting up. "I don't suppose you fancy a shower quickie before I go?"

The lioness dropped her gown. "How could I possibly say no to that?"

Later, after having her fun, Lara got showed, got herself dressed, and got made up nicely. She left her room to the wide hall, passing by her bodyguards and flashing winks at both of them before moving further ahead. She passed the upper hall, hearing noises of pleasure from all sorts of couples in several of the rooms there, even hearing the pleasured moan of a man slammed against a door, eliciting a giggle from her.

She continued down to the stairs, looking over the other halls that she'd established since Nack's money had come in. She not only rebuilt, she renovated. Everything around her brothel was much more dressed up, adorned in designs of gold, mahogany, and marble. Most of the areas that needed to be larger were, from the secretaries sharing a larger desk together to the kitchen area essentially being a small diner of its own.

The grey tigress smiled as she saw the familiar face of a dark blue Mobian cat. "Lisa! Good to see you."

Lisa smiled. "You too, Mistress Lara."

"Oh, it's just Lara. There's no need for formalities."

Lisa giggled. "Well, I'm glad that I caught you before leaving, because I have news! That college accepted me!"

Lara happily hugged Lisa. "That's fantastic!"

Lisa purred, smiling. "I know!" She pulled away from the hug. "I'm... I'm sorry that I won't be working here for too much longer..."

"Oh, it's fine," Lara said. "And, if you need anything, don't fret to call me back, okay?"

"Okay..." Lisa grinned again. "All right, have a good trip! Hopefully I'll get to sample the new girl before I leave for college!"

Lara giggled, kissing Lisa softly. "I'll see you later, lovely."

The brothel owner left out the front door, pulling out her phone to put some music on for the trip. She entered the limousine outside, smiling at the chauffeur as he held the door open for her. She hopped into the car, and the chauffeur went to the front to begin the drive. There was minimal to no conversation shared between the two, and before she knew it, she'd reached the centre of Westopolis. The driver parked, got out, and opened the door for Lara.

She climbed out of the car to see three other familiar faces exit out of three similar limousines. The first was a muscular bull whom she'd recognised as Manuel. Manuel's job was running weapons around Westopolis, pushing them to other cities as well when he could manage it. Manuel, unlike the others, was doing it for the sole reason of helping his daughters. But it didn't hurt to earn some extra money along the way for his own benefit either.

That was more than could be said for those in the other two limousines. Not long after Manuel made his presence known, Beau had followed. Beau was a Mobian snake who seemed to fit his species' namesake. He was the most lax of Nack's main runners, which worked well as he pushed all sorts of drugs around. But his knowledge of the best spots to sell in are what make him such a valuable asset, and thanks to recent training with Manuel, he's learned some basic fighting too.

Lastly was Martin, the only human member of the group, and a Westopolis police officer essentially on the outs with his department. In a place full of dirty cops, Martin was easily the grubbiest, having taken more dark jobs for Nack and the others as of late. He also knew how to get his hands on ID cards for the others, allowing them free access to sell whatever they wanted to whoever they wanted wherever they wanted.

"Gentlemen, it's good to see you all," Lara smiled.

Manuel nodded respectfully. "Everything's still moving as planned," he said, his Latin accent coming on thick.

"Where are you moving next?"

"Aqua Lake," Manuel said. "There's some guys down there who need the protection."

"That's a long move from here," said Martin. "I'll make you some ID stuff for your guys. And I'll get you some extra money too."

Beau shook his head. "I still find it bullshit that we're all meant to be equal with what we're getting paid, and you and Lara still have the most."

"Well, he trusts them the most," said Manuel. "Martin's got a head for this sort of thing, and Lara's been proven invaluable too. As for you and me, I'm the muscle and you're the... well, you're the drugs guy."

"I am indeed. And I have shifted a lot of Fokus as of late."

"And where are you going next?" Lara asked.

Beau sniffed. "Star Light's my next stop."

Martin nodded. "An easy one to sort out." He turned to Lara. "That leaves you."

"Oh, I've gotten my fair share of girls. My clientele is easy enough," Lara said. "It all resides here."

"Really?" Martin chuckled. "I heard that there's a girl somewhere who got evicted her parents' home lately. Couldn't afford to keep paying up after they passed away. She could use a new place to stay."

Lara nodded. "And where is this girl?"

"Down in Green Hill," said Martin.

"Huh," Manuel smiled. "Three big jobs, three different places..." He looked towards Lara again. "Did you reach Nack today?"

"I did," Lara said. "All that I told him was that I miss him. The usual."

Beau snickered. "Any bitch would miss their master..."

"And you're the lowest bitch on this food chain," Lara said pointedly. "So, Martin..."

"Yes, yes, I'll sort things out," he said. "I'll try and get more ears around Green Hill too. If I find any information on the girl, I'll let you know."

"Good." Lara sighed. "Remember, Nack gave us this money to rebuild. That's what we're doing for ourselves." She looked to Manuel. "How are your men doing on the old prison?"

Manuel smiled. "Another big cash-in, and it should be fully redone."

The grey tigress smiled back. "Trying to get more cash?"

"If my job goes well, I wouldn't mind a bit extra," he said. "My girls are doing better these days too. They're almost done with their classes in Westopolis. If possible, I'd like to try and send them somewhere better than here."

Martin nodded. "I'll help them, if you need it."

"No," Manuel shook his head. "No ID cards or anything like that. I... I want them to get in clean."

Martin nodded again. "Understood."

"The guy that sells violence for a living wants his offspring to get into a college in a better city?" Beau sighed. "There's something a bit off about that."

"At least he's got kids who he'll see succeed," Lara said. "And at least he's got a dick that works. What about you? I bet all of those drugs have left you dry as a desert."

Beau was silent, and Martin spoke up next. "I'll get to work on the IDs and I'll get you some vehicles to get to where you need to go." He turned to Lara. "As mentioned, if I hear anything about the girl in Green Hill, I'll tell you."

"I appreciate that," Lara said. "I'll be sure to make sure that the money gets to your accounts." She looked over to Beau. "Even yours."

"Appreciated," Beau said, a bit of his more Southern sounding accent coming out.

Lara nodded again, and the others silently agreed to all get back into their cars and head back to their respective bases of operations.

* * *

 **Over at Green Hill bank...**

* * *

Shadow looked outside, seeing that the day was winding down. He kept on his guard duty, stood besides the desk where Maria and several other people were working. A man had just thanked Maria for helping him withdraw some cash, and the blonde girl looked over to Shadow.

"Having fun there?" she smiled.

Shadow nodded over to her. "You were right. This isn't the most exciting thing."

"I did tell you that this morning when you offered to take up the job," Maria said. "Still, I find it odd that one of the guards got sick. None of us here have anything, so it's strange for him to just call in like that and say that he couldn't make it."

"Well, it's hard for a guy with a jacked up heart to really get sick," Shadow playfully joked.

"I-I didn't mean it like that..." Maria said.

"I know. I was just messing around," Shadow said.

Maria giggled. "I was too. But it is still strange..."

"Do you want me to help?"

"No, it'll be okay," said Maria. "I'm sure he'll be fine before long."

Shadow nodded, then he felt his phone vibrate, checking it. "Ah, time's about up," he said. "The guys are here."

Maria smiled. "Did you have fun, at least?"

"Watching over a place and protecting you?" Shadow smiled. "A little bit." He leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I'll see you when I get back home later."

Maria blushed at the kiss, nodding. "Take care, okay?"

Shadow nodded back, going outside to see Sonic's car waiting. He didn't waste much time in between greeting the blue hedgehog and hopping into the car, and they didn't waste much time getting back to their base. Inside, Knuckles was watching TV while Tails had Cosmo sat on his lap on the couch, a blanket covering them. The green girl waved over at Shadow.

"How was work?" Cosmo smiled.

"Compared to the weekend, it was pretty relaxing," said Shadow.

"Well, don't get too comfortable," Sonic said. "We do have the information from Nack to go over."

Tails turned to kiss Cosmo's cheek. "You want me to take you home?"

"Hmm... maybe you could stay over at my place when the briefing's over?" Cosmo suggested.

"I will not complain about that at all," Tails smiled. "Is it okay if I stay sat down during the briefing?"

"Are you naked under there?" Sonic asked.

"N-No..."

"Then stand your ass up," Sonic smiled. "You need to boot this thing up anyway."

Tails sighed, getting out from under Cosmo and the blanket to boot up the display in the centre of the room. "You know the code to this."

"I do, but it looks smarter when you do it," Sonic said as the global map popped up. "All right..." He focused on an image of Nack. "So, Nack here didn't know about the Langs selling the urn to Barrett. Which means that could be a dead lead."

"He's really adamant on not giving up those other three in Westopolis, is he?" asked Knuckles.

"It's not that we don't know where they are," Tails pointed out. "But we can't go in until we know for sure. We also can't go in half-cocked. Look what happened last time."

Sonic nodded. "Right on the money. But he may have given us a new lead." Sonic brought up Star Light City. "There's a sandwich shop up in Star Light. A human girl named Mona works there, and apparently, she's been buying drugs from a rival of Nack's named Zayd. The problem is that, unlike Nack's other associates, Zayd never stays in one place for too long."

"So, we find the girl, and she'll lead us to Zayd?" Tails asked.

"That's the plan. Hopefully it'll go smoothly." Sonic sighed. "Then again, it's us. And I probably just jinxed it. Sorry, guys."

"It's forgiven," Knuckles said. "And, if possible, I'd like to add something to our workload."

"Shoot," said Sonic.

The red echidna stood up, bringing up Green Hill's Police Department. "I want to look over the security footage from the other day when that guy from the press popped up. Hell, I don't even think he was working with them."

"Oh, damn, you're right," Shadow said. "We forgot to ask Ryu if he knew anything about him."

"I doubt that he would have known about it anyway," said Tails. "Ryu's small time. Fokus isn't his thing."

Sonic nodded. "All right, that settles that. Tomorrow, Shadow and I will head up to Star Light, and Knuckles and Tails will check the camera footage at Green Hill." He turned the display off. "All good?"

"All good!" said the others, Cosmo included.

Tails smiled at her. "All right, let's get to your place. I need the peace and quiet."

"No holding hands while you're gone. We don't need you catching anything," Knuckles deadpanned as the couple got up and left.

Sonic soon left after that to spend the night at Amy's place, Knuckles spend time with Shade in her house, and Shadow went to his and Maria's house after she was done with work.

* * *

 **Another one all done! Man... I just like writing this story. And I've missed writing about Nack's closest acquaintances. Anyway, next up will be more of this. Hopefully it'll be within the first week of March. Who knows? Until then, take care, and stay tuned!**


	9. Pushed For Cash

The next morning, Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, and Tails were all gathered back at their base. They weren't dressed for full mission readiness just yet, but they did have their nanotech ready just in case they needed them. Sonic was trying to make some mission arrangements before he and Shadow went up to Star Light, and he'd dialled the Star Light Police Department's number on his phone, not needing to wait long for a reply.

"All right, he's on the line," Sonic said, his phone to his ear.

"Hello, mate!" said Dingo on the other end. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"Hey, Dingo," Sonic smiled. "Listen, me and Shadow are taking a trip up to your neck of the woods. We got some info from Nack that someone over there's been trying to move drugs around, helped by someone even worse who is also trying to move drugs around."

"Well, I don't like it when people try to do bad things in my city," said Dingo. "You know you don't need to call ahead for missions up here, right?"

"We know, but we might need some help," said Sonic. "If the lead is as solid as Nack claims it to be, then this someone worse person might have a bigger system going on."

"Aye, that's good thinking," said Dingo. "All right, you've got our help on your side. If it does get worse when you follow you lead, I'll make sure to have some of my boys ready, and some weapons too."

"Thank you," Sonic said. "I appreciate it."

"You know what I'd appreciate?" Dingo said. "Jade Mountain for breakfast."

Sonic laughed. "We'll pick some up on the way there. See you in a bit."

"Looks like we've got an important mission ahead of us," Shadow smirked.

"Yep. Let's get to work," Sonic said.

The four all got up and left their base, taking their hover-boards as their main mode of travel. They went along the main road with them before branching off, with Sonic and Shadow heading for Jade Mountain and Knuckles and Tails making their way to the Green Hill Police Department. The latter two found their way there, parking their boards and heading into the building.

"Hello there!" Tails smiled at Cosmo.

Cosmo giggled. "We've been seeing each other around a lot lately. Is this some evil poly of yours? Because, to be honest... you're smothering me."

"What, is that a bad thing?" Tails asked, going over to kiss her cheek.

"Not at all," Cosmo blushed. "Still... what brings you here?"

"We're here on business," Knuckles said. "If it helps, it might not take long."

"What do you need?" asked Nicole.

"We were wondering if we could take a look at recent security footage," Knuckles said.

"Oh, sure," said Nicole. "Go right through to Vector and the others. They're not too busy right now anyway."

"Thanks," Tails smiled. He and Knuckles passed by the desk and headed through the next room, seeing Espio and Charmy, but no Vector. "Hey, where's big, green, and scaly?" asked Tails.

"He's in a meeting," Espio said. "How can we help you guys?"

"We need to take a look at the cameras from the other day," said Knuckles. "Specifically the day after we stopped the urn heist at the museum."

Charmy nodded, bringing up several holographic screens and finding the date that Knuckles was talking about. On the screen, the man that appeared to be a member of the press was looking around nervously before a look of excitement overcame his face. A smile spread as he saw the freelancers enter the department building, and soon after, he was simply standing at the front door.

"All right..." Knuckles looked closer as he and the investigator got into their brief scuffle on the screen. After it as over and he saw the man turn to run, he peered closely. "There... on his neck..."

"What is it?" asked Charmy.

"Focus on that," Knuckles pointed. The bee nodded, zooming in and enhancing the picture, showing the investigator's neck. And, indeed, the marks could be seen as clear as day now. "Son of a bitch..." Knuckles exclaimed.

"Looks like you might have been right," said Tails. "He was using something."

"Do you think that it's Fokus?" asked Espio.

"It could very well be," Knuckles said. "The question is where is he getting it from? And the next question after that is where did he go?"

"And another question is who gave it to him," said Tails. "It has to have been somewhere close. They double check for any contraband just from going city to city. He can't have gotten the drug anywhere else but here."

"And Sonic and Shadow are off on a possible drug bust in Star Light," said Knuckles. "We should find this guy too."

Espio nodded, getting a picture of the man's face and starting to search around the database. "All right... let's hope this works..." He kept searching, and eventually, he found a match. "The face is one Roger Merrick. He is a private investigator, so that part was true. His current whereabouts are unknown, but he was last seen in the southern part of Green Hill, and his car has the license plate BH89 ZPL."

"We'll have a look around the city for it," said Tails. "Thanks for the help, guys."

"Swing by again soon!" said Charmy. "We've been working on another upgrade for the hover-boards that you might like!"

"We'll be sure to do that!" Knuckles waved. He and Tails both left the room, saying goodbye to Cosmo and Nicole at the front before heading back outside.

Tails pulled his phone out. "Sonic? How far are you from Star Light?"

"We're just in the city now, trying to track down the sandwich shop," said Sonic. "Why? How are things on your end?"

"We might have our guy," said Tails. "He lives on the south end of Green Hill. We've got a license plate, a name, and a vague description of a location."

"All right, what do you guys want to do?" asked Sonic.

"We'll scope out the area, check for any entrances and such, then we'll come up and meet you at Star Light," said Tails. "Then we'll come back to Green Hill to talk to Merrick when we're done up there."

"We'll be waiting," said Shadow. "Might get some lunch while we're here."

"See you in a bit," Tails nodded, hanging up. He turned to Knuckles. "The plan is to have a look around here first, then we're going meet Sonic and Shadow back at Star Light. We'll focus on finding that Mona girl first, then we'll come back to Green Hill and see if Roger is still knocking around."

Knuckles nodded. "Let's take a look around."

The two hopped back onto their hover-boards, heading for the Southern end of Green Hill. They'd been there before once or twice for previous missions, but they hadn't really had to search for a specific person before, let alone one that they knew so little about. But, as they approached the area, they kept on the lookout for the car's license plate.

Tails looked up, seeing that they were approaching a cul-de-sac of sorts. "Looks like this is it," Tails said.

"All right, we're looking for the license number. We find that, we find the guy," Knuckles replied. He turned as he heart a vehicle's engine, seeing a car approaching from the road. "It might be our guy!" He looked around, seeing some bushes, and he and Tails ducked behind them.

Tails took a closer look as the car got closer, seeing the license plate number in question on the car. "That's the one."

"All right, let's stay low," Knuckles said. "We should have picked some equipment up before getting here..."

Tails shrugged. "It'll be all right. We'll get a better look later."

The car soon parked in front of a house, and as the engine was cut, a man stepped out of the car... but it wasn't Merrick. It was instead another human, and he appeared to be looking around before heading to the trunk of his car. He pulled out a box from the back before approaching the house that he was parked in front of, knocking the door with an odd rhythm. The door was opened, and Merrick stepped out.

"Something tells me that that other dude isn't here to deliver a pizza," Tails said.

Knuckles nodded. "Who even orders pizza at this time of day anyway? Everyone knows that it's more for a late night thing when you're too tired to cook."

The yellow fox chuckled. "That does explain why our phone bill has gone up lately. It's your fault with the pizza and Jade Mountain." He then focused as Merrick handed over some money to the other man. Said other man opened his box, taking something out and handing it over.

"That's Fokus, all right," Knuckles said. "You can't mistake that blue glow."

"But why is this guy getting Fokus? And where's he getting it from?" asked Tails.

"We could always just ask him now," Knuckles said. "Save the trouble for later."

"No, no, we need to help the others first," Tails reminded. The other man got into his car, pulling out of the driveway and starting to move out. Tails pulled out a small gun and aimed it at the car, firing a tracer which stuck onto the back of it.

"Yet more help from Charmy and co," Knuckles smiled. "Good shot too."

"Why, thank you," Tails said as the car left. "All right, we should be clear. I'm going to fly around Merrick's house and check what's what. I'll be back in a bit."

Knuckles nodded again, and Tails soon flew up into the air, his twin tails holding him aloft. He made his way carefully over to Merrick's house, not wanting to get caught in case the private investigator was chancing a look. Tails got up high and spun around the perimeter of the house, only seeing a front door, a back door, and a fire escape on the side of the house.

He soon returned to Knuckles, landing next to him. "Not too complicated, oddly. A fire escape, a front door, and a back door."

"Huh," the red echidna said. "You'd think that someone in his line of work would take more caution when it came to security."

"I guess this guy's a bit different," Tails said. "I mean, you saw it for yourself. You saw those marks on his neck the other day."

"That I did," Knuckles nodded. "But that's something that we'll deal with later. We'd better book it to Star Light, and fast."

Tails nodded, and the two got back onto their hover-boards, making their way up to Star Light.

At the city itself, Shadow and Sonic were on the street on the opposite end of the sandwich shop. They looked up at the sign, which was in a red neon style and read the words Rolling In Dough. There was a little mascot of sorts next to it of a jowly cartoon man wearing a cowboy hat, eating a sandwich as dollar symbols flashed in his eyes.

The blue hedgehog spoke first. "You know, it wouldn't hurt to get some grub."

"We're not doing this without the others," Shadow said, looking around.

Sonic looked over to him. "You seem a bit shaky. Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine," Shadow said. "It's just that I have some concerns."

"Dude, you have concerns about a lot of our missions," Sonic said. "It's what makes you such a valuable asset. That and the sterling fight banter that you spout out."

"We don't know how deep this one goes, though," Shadow said. "Even if this Mona girl tells us the truth, will we even want to know it? Is this Zayd guy going to be worth the effort?"

Sonic nodded. "I guess that I see your point. But I'm getting kind of sick of my teammates doubting my connection with a serious and dangerous criminal." He smiled. "Oh, wait, now I get it."

"You are aware that some bad shit could be just around the corner, right?" Shadow asked.

"Oh, I'm expecting it," said Sonic. "But this time, even if we're not ready, we'll be a bit better prepared... hopefully."

"We barely managed against Nack the last time that we fought him," Shadow said. "I'll need a bit better than hopefully, boss."

"First, don't call me boss in that tone," said Sonic. "And second, I know. But it's kind of hard to think straight with all of it going on. Nack has given us good stuff, but I am prepared for when he screws us somehow. It's coming, Shadow. I know it is. And I guess that I was trying not to worry the rest of the team by taking a calm approach to the situation, but with Knuckles asked questions and then you... Tails will too, and I can't have my best friend doubting me, let alone the fact that he's the only part of the team who hasn't questioned me."

"And he's supposed to be the smart one," Shadow chided. "But I get it, man. You're looking out for us."

The blue hedgehog chuckled. "At least it was easier to explain to you than it was to big red."

"Eh, you've had practise since," Shadow chuckled a bit. His phone then rung, and he answered. "Dingo?"

"Just calling to ask how things are going?" Dingo asked.

Sonic looked ahead at the sandwich shop. "Your guys are still eating inside. They're not pressing on without us, and we're not pressing on until Tails and Knuckles get here."

"Why? What happened to them?"

"They were hunting down a lead," said Shadow. "We'll take care of it after we're done here."

"Well, best of luck either way," Dingo said. "I've got a heavy armour team on reserve should you need it."

"We appreciate that," Sonic smiled. "See you in a bit."

"See you," Dingo said. "Oh, and thanks again for the Jade Mountain pickup! We owe you one!"

Shadow shook his head, hanging up with another smile, but her barely had time to put his phone down when Tails' number popped up, so he answered it again. "Hey, fluffy."

"Hey, just letting you know that we're on our way over,. We just got past the highway," Tails said. "We've got some information on that guy, but not a whole lot. We'll tell you the rest when we get there."

"All right, take care. See you in a bit," Shadow said. He then turned to Sonic. "What do you want to do while we wait?"

Sonic smiled. "How about getting some lunch?"

Shadow smiled back at that, letting out a little laugh as he and Sonic crossed the road to the sandwich shop. Inside, they saw a couple of familiar Star Light officers, recognising them by their faces as opposed to their uniforms. They didn't sit with them, but they did keep them in mind in case anything bad started up.

The two hedgehogs went to the front desk to see a woman they'd recognised as Mona working there, finishing serving another customer. She flashed an easy smile at the two hedgehogs. "Hi! What can I get you?"

"We'll take four sandwiches," Sonic said.

Mona chuckled. "Seems a bit much."

"We've got some friends on the way," Sonic replied.

Mona nodded. "Okay, and what'll you have?"

"I'll take a turkey and tuna mayo sub, please," Shadow said.

"And I'll have a BLT sub," Sonic said. "For our friends, I'm thinking a meatball sandwich for one, and a veggie special for the other."

"All right, not a problem," said Mona. "Eating in or taking out?"

"Eating in," said Shadow.

The girl nodded, getting to work on the sandwiches. "Would you liked them toasted? Or with sauce?"

"I'll take some ketchup on mine," said Sonic. "And toast the meatball sub too."

"Anything else?" Mona asked. "Anything to add, I mean?"

"Hmm... nope," said Sonic. "That's it."

Mona smiled at them, getting back to work on the sandwiches. Another person behind the desk helped her out, and soon, they were all ready. She wrapped the sandwiches up and handed them over, and the two hedgehogs paid up for them before going to take their seat.

"So..." Shadow spoke as he saw that they were out of earshot from Mona. "What's the plan?"

"Wait for the others first," Sonic said as he started eating. "We'll sit, we'll eat, and then we'll talk to Mona afterwards. See what she knows."

"Who should talk to her out of the four of us?" Shadow asked.

"I was thinking that you could take point on this one, actually," Sonic said.

"Really?" Shadow asked. "Why's that?"

"You'd be the best at talking to her," Sonic shrugged. "And if she does try to sneak away, you could teleport over and see what she's up to." Sonic's view looked up to see Mona heading to the back room, further noticing one of her coworkers letting her go about it. "Like right now, for example. She just started moving."

Shadow turned around, seeing her turning. "Must be taking a smoke break." He took a bite of his sandwich. "I don't think that we should make our move just yet. We'll wait for the others."

Sonic put his hands up. "Hey, you're leading on this one. If you want for us to wait, then we'll wait."

Shadow nodded. "Wait we will." He heard his phone vibrate, so he picked it up. "Not much longer, apparently. Just got a text from Tails. They're almost here."

Sonic nodded back, looking up and catching the eye of one of the Star Light officers. He gave a small head shake, and the officer nodded in reply, eating his own sandwich. As they kept eating, more customers came in to order, either taking away or eating in. Mona was still away, and the two hedgehogs were about finished with their food.

"Well, we've eaten," said Sonic. "Now what?"

"Now," said Shadow, swallowing his last bite, "I think that we should show our badges."

Sonic looked and nodded to the officers, who stood up as well. They put their trash in the bin and headed out of the shop. Sonic and Shadow soon followed, seeing Tails and Knuckles ride up on their boards. They parked them and walked up to the two hedgehogs, now all standing around outside the front of the shop.

"All right, what have we got?" asked Knuckles.

"Mona is showing some suspicious behaviour already," Sonic said. "I know that it's early to judge, especially since she was quite nice to us at the start, but she's been on break for a little while now."

Shadow nodded. "Other customers have come in, and she hasn't served anyone since we came in."

"Okay, that does count as odd," said Knuckles. "Is she still out the back?"

"That part we don't know," said Sonic. "We hope so."

"How did things go on your end with that Merrick guy?" asked Shadow.

"We found the car that matched the license plate we were given," Knuckles said, "but it's not his."

"A dealer dropped by, possibly with Fokus," said Tails. "We tagged his car with a tracer, so he won't be too hard to find when we're done here."

"All right, let's take care of this one," said Sonic. "Shadow, it's down to you."

The black and red hedgehog nodded. "Just follow my lead. Stay close, but don't make yourself known. If it gets bad, then stay ready."

The others nodded, and Shadow took a breath before walking around to the side of the store, seeing a gate with a sign that read "employees only". On the other side of the cage, he saw Mona smoking a cigarette. He teleported past the gate and confidently walked up to her, clearing his throat as he started to speak.

"Hi there," he said.

Mona took another drag of her cigarette, turning to see Shadow. "Oh, hey, it's you." She blew out some of the smoke. "What are you doing here? This is an employees only area."

"I know. I saw it on the sign." Shadow shrugged. "As for what I'm doing here... well, I'm a freelance officer. And you're in trouble."

"Define the level of trouble that I'm in, handsome," Mona smirked.

"Well, the word is that you've been involved in some shady deals with a character named Zayd. Did he drop that cigarette off for you?"

"L-Look, you can't be back here, okay?" Mona said. "And besides, I don't know anything."

"Right. Judging by that rather convincing nervous stutter, you clearly don't know anything about it."

"Look, just get out of here," Mona shook her head. "I'm on break, okay?"

"You've been on break for a little while now," Shadow said. "Are you waiting on someone?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about..." Mona said, backing away.

"I'm going to guess that you're not exactly pushed for cash, right?" Shadow asked.

"I... I don't know what you mean..." Mona said. She appeared to get more nervous as she heard a car parking nearby.

Shadow noticed her posture change, and he smiled. "Okay. Looks like that's my cue. Either you make this easy and start talking, or I make this a lot harder for you."

"Mona?" the voice asked. "You back here?"

Mona stumped out her cigarette. "Yeah, I'm here!" She grinned at Shadow. "How about I make this harder for you?"

"Oh, you really don't know who you're dealing with." Shadow hid near the wall as the gate opened, and Zayd stalked through it, walking over to Mona.

"Cameras down?" he asked. Mona nodded, and Zayd smiled. "You got the money?"

"Here," Mona said, reaching into her pocket. She handed the cash over, her posture remaining nervous.

"Is everything okay?" asked Zayd.

"Y-Yeah... I'm good..." said Mona.

"Are you sure?" Zayd asked, checking the money. "Feels a bit light... looks like it too."

"What? But that's what you asked for!" Mona said.

"The price went up. There's been rumours of those freelance guys going around. Extra risk equals extra cash. You'd better pay up."

Mona shook her head. "Fuck..." She reached into her pocket, searching around for any extra money that she might have had.

"Hurry it up," said Zayd. "I've got a lot of other drops to make."

"I don't... have any more..."

Zayd huffed, reaching to take the bag back from Mona. "No money, no fix."

"That's bullshit!" said Mona, trying to take it back. "I paid up fair and square!"

"Well, if you want what you want, you need to pay more." He pulled again at the bag.

Mona looked at Shadow from the corner of her eye, and Zayd turned around, seeing the black and red hedgehog as he was moving to attack. Zayd desperately let go of the bag, turning to swing at Shadow, but the freelancer ducked under easily, slipping in behind Zayd and wrapping an arm around the drug dealer's neck. Zayd grunted, trying to turn and throw Shadow off, but he soon found himself facing Mona again.

"You with the cops or something?" he asked.

"I'm not a cop, ass-wipe," Shadow said, starting to tighten his grip. "Just let the girl go, give her back the cash, and this'll all be over."

Zayd tried to thrash around again, backing up against the nearest wall. As he did, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails all came over to the gate, seeing it open. They aimed their Stunners at Zayd, but they weren't able to get a clear bead without the risk of hitting their friend. Zayd eyed them and tried to turn around to make Shadow face them. He faced Mona, staring her down.

"Did you know these guys were coming?" he asked.

"I tried to get rid of the one on your back!" Mona defended. "I didn't know!"

"Bullshit!" snarled Zayd. "You're paying triple for this!"

"Maybe you should save your threats for when I'm not choking you unconscious," Shadow warned, moving his arms up and trying to connect his right hand to his left bicep. "Just resist... give up..."

Zayd grinned, suddenly turning so that his back was against the nearest wall. He then made a sudden rush towards it, and Shadow took a quick glance to see what Zayd was attempting. Quickly, Shadow teleported out of it, warping high into the air before turning to try and land a flipping axe kick right down on the drug dealer.

Zayd caught Shadow's leg, and simply smiled as something green and sizzling started to pour from his hand and onto Shadow's leg. The black and red hedgehog pulled away in shock, looking down to see that some of his fur started to burn away, and he fell to his opposite knee, trying to stop the blood that would flow from it.

"What the fuck..." Shadow grimaced. "What... are you?"

Zayd showed the back of his hand, opening the scar there to show an implant built to the back of it. The built in healing factor of the implant then kicked in, covering his hand up again before his spoke. "Well, isn't it obvious? I'm just like you."

"Shad!" Sonic rushed over to his teammate. "Fuck, dude... you'll be okay..."

Zayd smiled again. "Not taking your shot? Probably wise. If you don't get to the hospital quick, that acid could reach down to his marrow and melt his bones."

"What do we do?" asked Knuckles.

"You two chase him," Sonic said. "I'll get Shadow to a hospital."

Knuckles and Tails nodded, and Zayd chuckled. "You sort of have to let me run to chase me. And I don't see a way out, so..."

He turned and fired some acid from his hands towards Tails' and Knuckles' direction, and the former jumped up to fly away from it while Knuckles dodged and rolled out of the way. Zayd rushed past them, firing another blast to further back them away before making his way to an emergency car which had pulled up. Tails and Knuckles recovered themselves, getting on their hover-boards to follow Zayd's car.

Sonic looked down at Shadow, helping him up and looking up to Mona. "You... you have some explaining to do..."

Shadow grunted. "Afterwards... I... I need help..."

Sonic nodded, turning as several Star Light officers came around the corner. "Arrest the girl," Sonic said. "We'll be there to question her later."

"What the fuck happened?" asked a guard, noticing Shadow's leg.

"Nothing that I can waste time talking about," Sonic said, turning to Shadow. "Let's go."

Shadow nodded, grimacing and teleporting forwards to get past the guards, who were moving to put some handcuffs on Mona. The two hedgehogs made it to their hover-boards, and started their ride to the hospital. It wasn't too far away, and they parked their boards before walking in, with Sonic holding Shadow up.

"I need a stretcher!" Sonic called out. "His leg's burning! Some kind of acid!"

The nurse at the desk called up a stretcher, and Shadow was laid onto it, immediately starting to apply pressure to his injury to stop the bleeding. As he was carted off, Shadow gave a thumbs up to Sonic and called out to him. "You go get that son of a bitch, you hear me? I'll be fine!"

"I know you will!" Sonic said. "I'll be sure to give him a shot from you!"

Shadow was taken out of sight, and Sonic turned to the nurse at the desk to thank her before going back out to the parking lot. He folded up Shadow's board and hopped onto his own, soon starting on his way back through to the city. He pulled out his phone, calling Tails' number.

"I got Shadow to the hospital," Sonic said. "Where are you guys?"

"Still chasing Zayd!" said Tails. "We think he's headed for the mall, but he's trying to lose us! It's hard to tell!"

"Try firing a tracer," Sonic said.

"I can't," Tails said. "When he blasted that acid, the gun fell out of its holster when I flew to dodge it."

Sonic shook his head. "It's fine. I'll get it back then I'll join you. You keep following him, okay?"

"We're on him!" said Tails.

Sonic hanged up, making his way back to Rolling In Dough and going around the back of the store to pick up the gun. On his way back out, he looked through the windows of the store and saw Rouge inside the sandwich shop. He quickly dashed around and inside to her.

"Rouge?" Sonic asked. "What's up?"

"Oh, I was in the neighbourhood," Rouge said. "I heard about what happened to Shadow. Is it true? Acid?"

"I think that it is," Sonic nodded. "But he's at the hospital. The doctors are already getting to work on him. He'll be all right."

"Still..." Rouge pondered, "that is a strong implant to have."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "It is, but... why does that have your interest? I mean, besides your not-boyfriend almost losing a limb, of course."

Rouge sighed. "It's just strange how that could happen. As someone who used to know guys like Zayd, I don't get how someone like that could get access to such high technology."

"Yeah..." Sonic's eyes widened. "Yeah... you're right."

Rouge saw his look. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just... I just had an idea," Sonic replied. "All right, I have to go. Got a bad guy to chase down."

The white bat nodded again. "Good luck. Not that you'll need it," she smiled.

Sonic smiled back, giving a small thumbs up before hopping back on his hover-board. He checked his phone to trace where his friends were going, taking an alternate and quicker path to catch up with them. "Come on... where are you guys..."

Knuckles and Tails, meanwhile, were still following, and as they had predicted, Zayd was heading for the shopping district. He kept firing acid every now and then, but Tails and Knuckles kept dodging it on their boards. Zayd then pulled to a stop and turned in his car to fire a closer shot, surprising the two Mobians. He shot low this time, clipping the front of Knuckles' board and causing him to fly off of it, tumbling hard onto the floor.

"Knuckles!" Tails called out, turning to stop.

"Good luck trying to catch me while your friend is out!" Zayd called, suddenly picking up speed again. and driving off.

"Go get him!" said Knuckles. "I'll be okay!"

Tails looked ahead to see Zayd's car turning away, but he nodded at the red echidna and got back to chasing after the criminal. As soon as he started to ride off, he heard another board pulling up besides him, smiling in relief upon seeing Sonic.

"Thank god you made it back," Tails said.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting," Sonic replied. "Where'd he go?"

"He turned right up ahead. I don't think we're going to catch him like this."

Sonic opened his pocket and gave Tails the tracer gun. "We may not need to do it just yet."

Tails smiled, nodding at the blue hedgehog with confidence. The two shared a fist-bump and started speeding up, trying to follow the route that Zayd was taking, going mostly by some of the destruction that was caused, not to mention the trail of acid. Along the way, they were joined by some Star Light police cars, and some had managed to close off parts of the road, making Zayd's escape all the more limited.

"This is a sight for sore eyes!" Sonic said to the officer in the car next to him. "Where'd he go?"

"He's headed for the docks!" said the officer. "We'll meet you there!"

"No need!" Tails said. "We're not going after him today! I'll put a tracer on him, but that's it!"

The officer nodded, putting the call out to the other cars. Sonic and Tails sped ahead of them, making their way to the docks. They just pulled around to see Zayd speeding off on a boat, not bothering to look back at the two freelancers. Tails rode up to the edge of the dock, taking careful aim with his tracer gun and firing. It landed right on the money, and Tails panted.

"Well... looks like we'll have to put this one on hold," the yellow fox sighed.

Sonic nodded. "We'll get the bastard later. Let's pick Knuckles up and go check on Shadow." He turned on his board. "Also, nice shot."

Tails smiled. "All those video-games taught me after all. That and a good friend. Let's go see him,"

The blue hedgehog nodded again, and they were soon on their way back over to the hospital, picking Knuckles up with them too.

* * *

 **And that's another one done! As promised, more action, and yes, there will be more to come! As always, I hope that you liked it. I again had fun writing it. And yes, that new element with the implant will be expanded on. It's going to be good. Next, another chapter of this! Until then, take care, and stay tuned.**


	10. Veins Of The City

Shadow was resting in his hospital bed, his right leg bandaged and propped up on a pillow. His eyes were closed as he rested, and just outside, his fellow freelance agents waited outside, looking in as Shadow slept. A doctor approached them, extending a hand to shake.

"You're the freelancers, right?" the doctor asked as Sonic shook his hand.

"That we are," said Sonic. "Is he going to be all right?"

"He'll be fine," the doctor nodded. "The paste will kick in while he rests. The burning has slowed down too, and he should be fully recovered by the end of the week."

"That's good," Sonic nodded.

Knuckles spoke up too. "You know about us?"

"I do," the doctor smiled, pulling out a phone. "I don't suppose that I could have a picture?"

"Sure," Sonic chuckled. He and the others posed with the doctor, and the flash activated.

"Thank you," the doctor smiled.

"You boys and your fame," a voice said. They turned to see Rouge walking over to them, smiling as the doctor left.

"Good to see you too," Tails grinned. "But shouldn't you be at work?"

"Who says that I'm not at work right now?" Rouge winked.

"Ooh? Door to door jewellery sales? I mean, it's not uncommon, but still."

"Ha ha," Rouge shook her head. "I'm here to see Shadow, actually."

"He's asleep right now," said Knuckles.

"That's fine," Rouge said. "I'll stay here and watch over him. I'm sure that you boys have work to do anyway."

"Says the one not currently work," Sonic noted, but he smiled disarmingly and hugged her. "Thank you."

"I'll keep him out of trouble. You just focus on kicking bad guy ass, okay?"

The others thanked the white bat again, leaving the hospital as Rouge went to sit with Shadow. She looked over him as he slept, reaching to pet his quills. He stirred from her touch, his eyes opening to look up at her.

"Rouge?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"Ugh, don't you start. I've been hearing that all day," she smirked. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm not going to need an amputation, so when it comes to that, I'm super. The drugs and the medicinal paste help a lot too." He looked around. "Where are the guys?"

"They're out and about, presumably to set some things straight. Like how did some drug pusher almost turned you into a one-legged man."

"I'd still beat that guy in an ass kicking contest," Shadow smiled weakly.

"Normally, I wouldn't doubt that. But... well, he did sort of get one up on you."

"Yeah... maybe..." Shadow yawned. "I should sleep..." He smiled up at Rouge as his eyes drooped. "Thanks for being here."

Rouge bent down to kiss his cheek. "Any time."

Outside of the hospital, the others hopped onto their hover-boards, sans Knuckles who instead rode on the back of Sonic's. They were weaving around the city, contemplating what their next move would me. After all, they had options.

"So, where to?" asked Knuckles.

"We've got a lot to get done today," Sonic said. "But I think that we should go and take your board back. See if Charmy can get it fixed up."

"I can do that," Tails said. "I wanted to head to Green Hill anyway. If someone's using dangerous implants like what Zayd had, then I need to make sure that they're okay."

"No objections here," Sonic said. "I'll go over to the Star Light Police Department. They've got Mona locked up, so maybe I could try and get some answers out of her. You know, like I tried doing last time, hopefully with less failure and chance of injury this time."

"Good luck with that!" Knuckles said, jumping onto Tails' board. "We'll see you in a bit!"

Sonic gave a two-fingered wave-off before turning on his board at a cross section of the city, following behind a Star Light car as it drove back to its base. He followed it to its end destination, and he parked his board up before stepping into the building.

The inside was much like the outside, with the paint having its familiar mixture of green and gold, looking as sleek as ever. The layout was similar to Green Hill's department, but it arguably felt fresher... possibly due to having a lower crime rate than Green Hill.

Sonic walked to the front desk, smiling. "Hey, you wouldn't have happened to have brought a human female in earlier, would you? Blonde hair, green eyes?"

"Third cell along the hall," the receptionist replied. "She's being guarded right now."

"Thank you," the blue hedgehog nodded. He turned to head down said hall when he turned and saw a couple of familiar faces coming out of the elevator. He chuckled as he spotted them.

"Walsh and Cameron," Sonic smiled. "Feels like it's been too damn long."

"I feel like we'd cross paths more often if you didn't keep taking work from us," Cameron shook his head. "Anyway, what brings you out here?"

"I'm here to talk someone down. She was already in trouble beforehand, but that did recently escalate," Sonic said.

"I mean, if you're talking about that blonde girl, don't bother. We're on interrogation duty," said Walsh.

"And yet my guys could get a better result a lot faster than any of yours could," Sonic smirked.

"Speaking of which," the orange cat spoke, "where are they?"

"Otherwise preoccupied. One with getting his board fixed, one with making sure that his parents are okay, and one in the hospital here because he almost got his leg burned off. In fact, the guy responsible for putting the one in hospital also melted another one's board."

"And what about the last one?" asked Walsh.

"Well, how do you think?" Sonic asked.

"To be fair, you have given us almost no hints," said Walsh.

Sonic sighed. "All right, so, here's the gist of it all. There's been this drug dealer named Zayd who Nack set me on a course to find. Unfortunately, it didn't go well. Turns out that Zayd is enhanced by an implant, and that implant sort of stopped us from chasing the bastard down."

"Was this implant acidic in nature?" asked Cameron.

"Give the man a prize!" Sonic chuckled. "But, yeah, because of him, Shadow's in a hospital, Knuckles needs to get his board fixed, and Tails went to make sure that his folks are okay." He sighed. "Anyway, we've got a tracer on a different dude too. It's just a matter of finding them both."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot that Tails' parents manufacture implants," said Walsh. "But they're meant to help, not hurt, right?"

"That's right," Sonic said. "Which is part of the reason why Tails is going to see them at all."

"Smart, just like the fox himself," said Cameron.

"That he is," Sonic noted. "But still, I'd like a word with Mona. If anyone can give me the answers that I need right now, then it's her."

"By all means, you're welcome to try," said Walsh, "but she's not an easy nut to crack."

"Thanks for giving me the permission," Sonic said drily. "If it helps, you can record it. I mean, you do work here, after all."

"Thanks for giving us the permission," Walsh smirked.

Sonic patted the caiman's shoulder and walked past him to head to the interrogation room where Mona was being held, knocking on the door. A Star Light officer in the room already opened the door to see him, unable to hide his concerned look as he let Sonic in.

"Why are you here?" the officer asked.

"I need to have a talk with the girl here," Sonic said. "Walsh and Cameron can give it another try after I'm done. I just need some time along with her."

Mona looked up as the officer sighed, shaking his head and mumbling something about the freelancers getting too much leeway before he walked out of the room. "You know that I'm not going to squeal, right?" said Mona.

"I know that," Sonic said. "See, I have a friend who could have gotten the confession out of you in a matter of seconds. But, because of you, that friend is in the hospital, and he's lucky enough to be able to use all of his limbs."

"Wait, that wasn't you?" Mona asked. "You're a hedgehog, right?"

"Last time that I looked in the one-sided mirror over there, yeah," Sonic replied, his head gesturing to the mirror in question. "But, no, that hedgehog wasn't me. That one has black quills with bad-ass red streaks, chest hair that makes the women go crazy, and a sunny disposition. And also a hole in his leg that he's recovering from. Because of you."

"Why are you blaming me?" Mona asked. "It's not like I'm the one who melted your friend's leg."

"No, you're right," Sonic said. "I shouldn't put that much pressure on you. But unless you tell me where Zayd could have gone, that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"I don't know," said Mona. "We only meet, like, once every two to three weeks."

"And what happens when you meet?" Sonic asked.

"I buy drugs from him," said Mona.

"Now, why would you go and do something as stupid as that?" Sonic asked, his tone getting a bit more aggressive. "Don't get me wrong, we all need that escape from time to time. But did you know how dangerous he was?"

"He's a drug dealer," Mona said. "I know how bad they can be. How connected they are."

"All right, did you know that he's a rival to someone even worse than him?" Sonic asked.

"Like who?" Mona scoffed.

"Nack the weasel," Sonic said, his eyes sharp and glaring at her. "Now, let me tell you a little not-so-secret: I have been using Nack's reliable information to help me and my team with missions to stop people like Zayd from rearing their ugly heads all too often. People who sell drugs, weapons, and anything else like that. Basically the thing that I've been trained to stop from happening."

"I don't understand what that has to do with anything," Mona said.

"Do you know who Nack is? What he's capable of? If you thought that Zayd was bad, believe me, Nack is even worse. See, Zayd? He's the type of guy that would just not give you your fix if you didn't pay up. He'd probably hurt you, or worse, kill you, but that's it. But Nack? If you get on that ass-hole's bad side, he'll destroy your life. He'll come after your family and burn your house down just as a warning shot."

"You're not going to win by threatening me with some old gangster," said Mona. "You might be scared of him, but not me. Hell, you must be scared of him if all you're doing is following his orders. Just like all cops, you're a dog on a leash."

The blue hedgehog nodded, chuckling lightly. "I guess that you have a point. But, darling, you live in Star Light. It's hard to get cops on you there at all, let alone a freelance squad who take the job way more seriously. Because of Zayd, it isn't just one of my friends getting hurt. It isn't just one of my friends losing something, or one of my friends being worried about his family. It's about the people that you know too. Zayd probably gave up on you today because you couldn't pay up, and because he thought you were siding with Shadow, right?"

"I wouldn't know," Mona scoffed, looking away. "I haven't had my free phone call yet, so I can't talk to anyone anyway. Would you get to your point?"

"My point is simple." Sonic scooted further forward in his seat. "See, we put a tracer on Zayd, but that may not last. He seems like a smart cookie. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten that implant. Because he has that, he did a lot of bad today. You think you're the only one he sells to? What happens when you bump into someone more on his level? Because, listen, you may think that, just because you're young, you can coast by without worrying. But I've seen it happen to better people." Sonic wiped his face with his hand. "Do you even have a family? Anyone who cares?"

Mona gulped, Sonic's words starting to settle in. "I... I have a friend of a friend at my sandwich shop. She needs to use a wheelchair due to a birth condition."

"If you deal with Zayd, he'll hurt you. If you bump into Nack, he'll hurt your friend a lot worse than Zayd could ever hurt you," Sonic said. "Do you want that to happen?"

"I... I don't..." said Mona, feeling some tears start to form. "Fuck... I didn't think..."

"No, you didn't," Sonic said. "But if you work with me, if you work with Star Light, they can cut you a deal. You'll be safe with them, and we'll take care of Zayd. Don't forget that there's a way out of it, even if it doesn't seem like it at first. Okay?"

The human girl nodded, sniffling a bit. "Okay..."

Sonic took a breath. "So... he bounces around from place to place, and when we put the tracer on him, he was on a boat on his way out of the port. Do you have any idea where he could have gone?"

Mona paused to think. "Angel Wing City, I think. He's been making more trips up there lately, mostly with the worry of cops being on his tail. But he didn't have the implant at first, and I don't know him well enough to know that he'd go there right away."

Sonic nodded. "All right, thank you. Anywhere that he might go after that?"

"Not that I know of," Mona shook her head. "Sorry that I can't help you any further. And I'm also sorry for being rude and selfish. I don't want my friends to be hurt..."

"Another thing that might help is just not buying drugs from people," Sonic suggested.

"I know..." Mona said. "I don't want to go to rehab, though. It's not that bad for me."

"It might just be, unless you do the right thing," Sonic replied. "Still, rehab isn't all bad. You might even meet a kindred spirit there. It won't hurt to give it a try, is all I'm saying."

Mona nodded weakly. "I'll... I'll consider it." She looked up at Sonic. "Could I go now?"

"No, I'm afraid that's not up to me," Sonic said. "I'm pretty sure that there'll be other questions that I won't ask because they won't help anyone. And another reason is that I'm not technically a cop."

"No..." Mona agreed. "You're better than a cop."

"Thanks you." Sonic gave a respectful nod, standing up. "Now that I'm done with the questions, I'll be going. If we happen to cross paths again, I hope that it's under better circumstances."

Mona simply nodded. "Thank you..." she said. As Sonic turned around she spoke up again. "He might not be easy to reach even if you do corner him. He knows his way through the veins of the city he's in, no matter which one. I... I just thought I'd give you a heads up."

Sonic nodded at that and gave thanks before he took his leave, exiting the room to bump into a couple of Star Light officers. They went into the interrogation room that he'd just left, mostly to watch over the girl in there, and Sonic shook his head as he reached the front desk. He turned to see Spencer, a wolf and another old friend from Star Light.

"Hey, Sonic," Spencer smiled.

"Hey," Sonic replied. "Can't stay too long."

"Just wanted to ask how it went before you go," Spencer said.

"Oh, it went well, I think," Sonic said. "I got some good info on Zayd. He's likely headed to Angel Wing next."

"Ah," Spencer sighed. "Then that means that we can't come with you. You know, wrong jurisdiction, could get us fired and whatnot."

"Funny fucker, aren't you?" Sonic chided playfully. "All right, I'll see you around, man."

Spencer nodded, shaking hands with the blue hedgehog before he left the building. Sonic was out and soon on his hover-board, torn on where to go next. 'Man... Shadow at the hospital, Knuckles at Green Hill, Tails are his parents' place... hmm... let's go check on the fluffy one and see how he's doing.'

Tails, meanwhile, was knocking on the door to his parents' workshop. "Mum? Dad? You guys in?"

The door was opened, and Rosemary Prower stood there, smiling and leaning down to hug her son. "Oh, it's so good to see you! It's been so long!"

Tails, even thought he was there to talk about something serious, couldn't hide his smile as he hugged back. "I missed you too..."

"Who is it, honey?" Amadeus asked from the kitchen.

"It's Tails!" Rosemary let go of the hug, smiling. "So, what brings you back?"

"It's something pretty serious," Tails said, walking in. "There's a chance that you guys could be in danger."

"Danger? How?" Rosemary asked. "Wait, where are your friends?"

"They're all fine. Mostly." Tails sighed. "Mum, we ran into someone pretty bad today. That someone hurt Shadow and almost destroyed Knuckles' hover-board."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetie," Rosemary said. "But I don't see what that has to do with us?"

"The guy who did it, a dealer named Zayd, had an implant. He used it to spit out acid from his hand. He almost melted Shadow's leg off. Sonic is talking to someone who was buying drugs from him, and with any luck, we'll be able to find him."

"Zayd?" Rosemary shook her head. "I don't believe that we've dealt with anyone such as that."

"Black furred weasel?" Tails offered.

Rosemary paused to think, shaking her head again. "Not that comes to mind, no."

"Like we'd deal with someone who didn't know what they were doing anyway," Amadeus said from the kitchen, walking over with some coffee.

"No, I think that Zayd knew what he was doing," Tails said, thanking his father for the coffee. "He must have found a way around it."

"It might not have been bought directly from us," Rosemary said. "I mean, we make stuff to sell to hospitals and military bases all the time. It might have been stolen somehow from one of those."

"She's right," Amadeus agreed. "After we get the implants made and shipped out, it's out of our control what happens after that. We don't drive them out to others, we just stay here and keep making more. And we trust our drivers deeply. We've been using the same ones since we started this business, after all."

Tails nodded. "I know." He took a sip of his coffee, then had a thought. "Say, when's your next shipping date?"

"This coming Friday," answered Rosemary. "Why?"

"I want to hang back a bit and help one of the drivers see it through to the other side," Tails said. "If I'm right, then that means that it's during that transit. If I'm wrong... then it might be a lot worse."

"What, like an inside man?" asked Amadeus.

"It's not unlikely," Tails said. "Nack has a habit of swaying people to his side, even on the inside of some prison bars. We never figured out just how far his reach goes, but if it is as far as I think that it is, then..."

"Try not to worry about that, all right?" Rosemary suggested, putting a hand on Tails' shoulder. "Worry about that on Friday. For now, focus on helping your friends. You might be a top rate mechanic, but," she poked his chest, "this is your best strength."

Tails blushed. "Mum... darn it, I'm 21 now..."

"And still our boy," Amadeus grinned, ruffling his son's ears.

Tails chuckled at that, enjoying further small talk with his parents as they finished their drinks. He gave them hugs before leaving them be, pulling out his phone to text Sonic quickly as he decided on his next destination, that being the Green Hill Police Department to meet up with Knuckles.

Speaking of which, the red echidna held up his hover-board, looking a bit regretful about what happened. He hadn't entered the building yet, but he manned up and walked through, seeing Charmy and Espio right by the front desk. They turned to spot him, about to greet him happily before their gazes fell upon the board, their expressions souring a little.

"What happened here?" asked Espio.

"Had to deal with a drug dealing psycho who can shot acid from his hand," Knuckles said. "That might be one of the weirdest sentences that I've said all week."

"Considering our line of work, I feel like it's a more normal one," said Charmy, flying over to Knuckles. "Board, please." Knuckles handed it over, and Charmy spoke again. "Follow me."

Knuckles did so, and Charmy brought the board over to Vector, who looked it over. They took it to a table in the middle of the room, and Charmy typed into a machine to run a quick scan on the board, allowing the bee to a good look at the damage that was done.

"Well?" Knuckles asked. "How bad is it?"

Vector spoke. "The acid shot melted up the front pretty badly. Wires got burned out, one of the exhausts got taken out, and there's some damage to the anti-gravity technology."

"But it's nothing that we can't fix," Charmy said. "To think, I had something cool to show you soon too. I guess it'll have to wait."

"How long will it take?" asked Knuckles.

"Damage like this... a couple of days," said Espio.

Knuckles shook his head. "Man, why does all of my stuff get damaged? First it was the car crash, then there was... other stuff... I think. And now this?"

"But the car wasn't your fault, and neither was this, right?" Charmy asked.

"Right," Knuckles said. "Still, thank you."

"Don't forget to take one of the prototype boards if you need it," said Vector.

"Oh, I will. Need it, I mean. Not forget." Knuckles petted the green crocodile on the shoulder. "Thank you, guys."

"No trouble," said Espio. "Now, get out of here. Let the masters work."

Knuckles shook his head, picking up a red hover-board from the wall and putting it on his back. He headed out to the front door, stopping as he saw Tails riding over to the building too. "What are you doing out here?" the red echidna asked.

"I came to check up on you, dummy," Tails said lightly. "How bad's the damage?"

"It's a two day fix," Knuckles shrugged. "Not a lot that I can do about it."

"Man... first the car, then this, huh?" Tails asked.

"That's what I said!" Knuckles laughed, putting his board down. "All right, what's the plan?"

Tails' phone vibrated, and he checked that he got a text back from Sonic. "Meet up with our fearless leader over at Star Light. We're going to stop by and see Shadow before coming back to headquarters over here."

"Let's head up there," Knuckles said.

The two of them rode their boards up to Star Light, soon reaching the hospital where Shadow was being held and still resting up. Sonic was waiting outside of the room where Shadow was resting, and Rouge was in the said room with the black and red hedgehog, talking to him. Knuckles and Tails walked up to Sonic, who smiled at the two.

"How'd it go?" he asked them.

"We'll tell you a bit later," said Tails. He looked to see Shadow smiling and Rouge laughing a bit. "What's going on in there?"

"The king of emo bad-assery is working his magic on Rouge, it seems," Knuckles grinned.

"They've been at this pretty much all the time since I got back," Sonic said. "I managed to shake Mona down enough to get some good information out of her. She has a friend in Star Light who's disabled, and if we're lucky, we won't have to bump into Mona again."

"Well, at least she cares about something other than a quick fix," Tails said.

"Let's talk shop when we get back to the base," said Knuckles.

"You boys okay out here?" Rouge asked, peeking her head out the door.

"We're good, thanks," Sonic said.

Rouge smiled. "Come on in. Shadow wants to see you."

"We're not in trouble, are we?" Knuckles smirked a bit as they headed in.

Tails looked down at Shadow. "How are you holding up, big guy?"

"Surprisingly well," Shadow said. "The medicinal paste is starting to kick in, as is the morphine too... hehe..."

"That would explain the sunny disposition," Sonic smiled. "I'm just glad that you're feeling better, man."

Rouge chuckled. "I looked after him while you were gone. Well, the nurses and doctors looked after him. I just waited to make sure that he was okay."

"And we thank you for it," Sonic smiled.

Shadow chuckled a bit. "Did... did you guys stop the bad guys?"

"Not yet," Tails said. "We were going to wait for you, actually."

"Yeah," Knuckles said. "We were going to head back to the base and sort stuff out there."

Shadow shrugged. "Well, since I'm not going to be out of this bed for a couple more days, we may as well get stuff done here."

Sonic looked to the other two. "Should we?"

Knuckles shrugged. "We might as well. Just because he's high from the morphine doesn't mean that he's not going to retain any of this."

"He has always been pretty good at that," Tails admitted. "Let's give it a shot before the nurse gets back here."

Sonic nodded. "I shook down Mona and got some information about Zayd. She doesn't know a lot about his routes, because they're pretty sporadic, but the most likely place that he'll go next is Angel Wing."

Knuckles rose an eyebrow. "My hometown, huh? That's going to be weird."

"That's if he's even still there," Rouge said. "I mean, because you said that he's likely to hop around."

"Right..." Tails said. "Anyway, I asked my parents if they knew anything about Zayd or his implant, but they don't know anything about it. They make the implants, they use the same drivers as they always have to ship them off to places that need them, rinse and repeat. I'm going to join them for the next time that they ship out, just to check if anything similar is happening. Zayd might not be an isolated incident."

"That is smart thinking, man," Sonic said.

"The only news that I have is that it'll take about as long as Shadow's recovery for my board to get back to normal," Knuckles added.

"Well, we may not have a couple of days to wait until Zayd moves again," Tails said.

Shadow grunted. "You guys... you can go without me, you know. The three of you can take care of one guy like him."

Rouge looked over to Sonic. "He's right. I promise, I'll make sure that he's okay. I'll book a couple of days off of work to stay here."

A nurse then entered the door, putting on a polite tone. "You must be friends of the patient's?"

Sonic nodded. "That we are. And you don't have to say it, because we're going to leave." He turned to Shadow, putting a hand on his and leaning to hug him. "You'll be okay, dude."

"I will be... and I promise, as soon as I'm better... I'm going to be up and kicking ass with you guys..."

"I sure hope so," the blue hedgehog smiled. "Take care, buddy."

He got up to hug Rouge, who hugged back. The other two did the same before all three freelancers left, heading out of the hospital to make their way back over to their base. They went over to their kitchen table, and Tails brought up their display as Sonic cleared his throat.

"So, here's what we know so far," he said, bringing up Star Light city. "A human female named Mona was buying drugs from a Mobian weasel named Zayd. When we tried to corner him, he put Shadow in the hospital thanks to an implant. A very dangerous one at that."

Tails nodded. "My parents don't know who Zayd is, or even if it's one of their implants. It could have been altered in the time between, but we won't be able to find out until this Friday when I ride in one of the trucks that ships the implants off."

"Let's not forget that he can melt boards too," Knuckles said. "That acid is some strong stuff. And he's currently in Angel Wing City, where I'm from. If he stays there for too long, that'll help us in catching him... but it'll also mean that he could have more time to escape. We don't know where he's going after that, either."

"It's a matter of when we should go after him," Sonic said. "It might be best to just head out now and see if we can find him. We'll put a call out to the good boys at Angel Wing to help us."

"No time to run recon on this one, huh?" asked Tails.

"Sadly, no," Sonic shook his head. "Let's head out, gentlemen."

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at Angel Wing City...**

Zayd stumbled through an alleyway, thanking his luck that he didn't get followed out there. He managed to take the right routes to get to his little place there, taking the back door in and heading to the living room, where an associate of his laid on the couch. Zayd spoke, lightly slapping the side of his friend's face.

"Wake up, Keegan," he said.

Keegan, an African-American human, woke up slowly. "Oh... Zayd... when did you get back?"

"Literally just now," said Zayd.

"How'd the sell go?" asked Keegan, stroking his beard.

"Well, the girl didn't have the money to buy," said Zayd. "And she was in league with some cops. They didn't follow me here, but they might know."

"Shit..." Keegan said. "What's the plan? Move out?"

"Lay low," said Zayd. "You might have to push the next buy out, like you did to that private investigator today."

"Hey, I got someone else to do it," said Keegan. "I haven't left this couch all day."

"I can tell," said Zayd. "Maybe if you did, the fucking place would be cleaner."

"Are you sure it's safe to lay low if they know where you are?" asked Keegan.

"We might not get much time," said Zayd, "but we'll have enough to gather the cash to get out of here." He then chuckled. "Melted one of those cops' legs with my implant."

"Jesus..." Keegan shook his head. "They must be really pissed at you."

"Part of me hopes so," said Zayd. "They'll have to find me first, though." He checked through his bag. "I've got a lot more selling to do too... man, my boss is going to hate me."

Keegan sat up. "I'll try and put more orders out for you. The cops won't be looking out for me anyway, so it'll be all right."

Zayd nodded. "Thank you. But, please be careful."

"I'll be fine," Keegan said, starting to roll a joint. "Let's just chill, okay?"

Zayd shrugged. "Eh... fuck it." He took the joint from Keegan and nodded.

* * *

 **And that's it for another chapter! Sorry it took so long, as I was getting a new laptop. Next, more More Toys, then a one-shot after that, then back to this! I'll see you for that hopefully soon. Until the next one, take care, and stay tuned.**


	11. Home Field Advantage

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were sailing across the water to get to Angel Wing City. A boat from the city's police force drove them over, and they even had some music playing thanks to the driver, an older echidna who was rather friendly and accommodating.

"How far out are we?" asked Tails to the driver.

"Only a few minutes," said the driver. "I'm glad you kids picked some good music to drive out too."

"Well, when we're going into do some police work, we need a good soundtrack," Sonic chuckled. "But thank you for picking us up from the pier."

"Oh, it's no trouble," the driver smiled. "Glad to see that you've got a fellow one of my kind with you."

Knuckles scratched the back of his head. "I'm surprised that you even made it. You must have been around during the first genocide."

"Oh, I was," the driver said sadly. "I... I lost some good people. And, if it's all the same to you, I'd like you guys to stop bad people from being in Angel Wing."

"We will," Knuckles nodded, looking up as the island came into view. "Ah... home sweet home."

Sonic and Tails looked up ahead to see it come into view too. They'd never been there before, but they did recognise parts of it from when Knuckles had a vacation there with Shade in the year prior. And the fact that Knuckles kept a couple of pictures of it on his phone.

The driver pulled into the port, locking in and killing the engine. "You fellas need a tour guide around here?" he asked Sonic and Tails.

"I've got it handled," Knuckles smiled. "Thanks for the help."

The driver nodded, hopping out of the boat. "I'd best get back on patrol, anyway. You said you were looking for a certain someone?"

"Yeah, a black-furred weasel named Zayd," Tails confirmed.

"Hmm... I think I saw someone matching that description heading out of the city, but not coming in so much... eh, if I see anything, I'll let you know. It wouldn't hurt to ask around."

"Will do," Sonic nodded. "Thanks again for the help."

"Any time."

Tails waved as the driver left, then turned around to see a little red hedgehog girl. "Oh my god, you're Tails!"

"Uh..." The yellow fox blushed a bit. "Do... do I know you?" He looked down at her shirt. "Wait... a freelancer shirt?"

"Since when did we get merch?" Sonic asked. "And where can I get some?"

"You've got a lot of fans over here!" said the girl. "We watch you on the news all of the time!"

"Aren't you a bit too young for that?" Tails asked. "I mean, we sometimes swear and we also shoot guns."

"Oh, it's fine!" The girl giggled, pulling out a plush doll of Tails, along with a pen. "You're my favourite! Could... could you sign this for me?"

"Uh..." Tails looked ahead, seeing a various species Mobians recognising them. He looked back to the girl and smiled. "Of course. What's your name?"

"Edie!" she said.

Tails smiled and wrote down on the doll. "To my best fan, Edie. Love, Tails." He handed the doll back. "Here you go."

Edie hugged the doll tightly, kissing the cheek. "Thank you thank you thank you!" She hugged Tails tightly, who was pleasantly surprised, but he hugged back.

"You're welcome..." he said, looking down as she pulled away from the hug. "Say... would you mind helping us?"

"Oh, sure sure!" Edie nodded eagerly.

Sonic stepped in. "We're looking for a Mobian with black fur. A weasel. Have you seen anyone like that around here?"

"Hmm..." Edie pursed her lips in thought. "Actually... I did! Somewhere around the central plaza earlier today in the middle of the town. I think that he was getting a gift from someone."

"Did he hurt you at all? Did he hurt anyone?" Knuckles asked.

"Nope! I didn't pay him much mind," Edie said. "My mama always told me to keep away from strangers."

"Well, that stranger is very dangerous," said Sonic as more people started to gather around. "So, we need to know if you saw him go anywhere else."

"I'm sorry... I didn't..." Edie said. "But... you're going to catch him. I know it! You always catch the bad guys!"

Tails ruffled Edie's quills softly. "We will. You can count on us."

Edie giggled at the ruffling, then a taller female hedgehog took her hand. "Mama! Look!"

Edie's mother, looking like an older version of her, smiled at the freelance agents. "Thank you for signing that for my little girl."

"Oh, it was nothing," Tails smiled. "I... I guess I've always been good with little ones." He looked around as some more people started barging their way over, turning back to the mother. "Listen, we need to leave. We've got a bad guy to catch. Sorry to cut this so short."

"No worries," the woman nodded. "I understand. You take care."

Tails thanked her again, looking around before Knuckles tapped his shoulder. "There's a way through the alleys up there. Should help us get around them."

"Let's take it, then," Sonic said.

The red echidna led the way for the three, rushing through the building paths and alleyways. Sonic and Tails kept close to him as they followed, thankful that most of their encroaching fans hadn't followed them, and those that did lost sight of them before giving up on trying to chase them.

"Damn," Sonic said as they successfully escaped any more fans. "You really know how to avoid being liked by people."

"One of the many perks of having the home field advantage," Knuckles shrugged. "This route helps us get to the park centre too."

"That reminds me," Tails said, "if that little girl saw Zayd having a delivery, then that means either there weren't a lot of people there, or there was a lot and she was one of the few to notice."

"Dude, you saw it for yourself," Knuckles said. "We had a lot of fans out there. There are a lot of people on this island who aren't as big on us."

"Well. as long as the police force out here is still helpful," Sonic shrugged. "It's been a while since we saw them."

Knuckles kept walking, leading them out of the other end of the alleyway. "I'm sure that they're around. Zayd seems like a pretty discreet guy, so I'm not surprised that people didn't notice."

"Plus, Angel Wing has become more of a vacation spot lately, right?" Tails asked. "People are probably too busy with their own lives to care."

"That is sad but true," Knuckles nodded. "But that doesn't make those people bad. They just want to get away. In order to do that, they just happen to come to a place which housed one of the biggest Mobian genocides on this side of history, but I'm pretty sure that that's not in the brochures."

"Damn," Sonic said. "I can't tell if you're happy or angry to be back here."

"Happy," Knuckles said a bit firmer than he had intended. "It's just good to be back here. And we get to take out someone else too. It's a win-win situation, if you ask me."

Sonic and Tails remained silent, satisfied with the red echidna's answer for the time being. They looked around the centre of the town, seeing people walking in and out of stores, getting souvenirs and food, some on their phones to others, others with their loved ones in person.

"I guess we should start asking around," Sonic said.

"You boys need some help?" asked a voice.

The three freelancers turned around, and were quite surprised to see a familiar face. Julie-Su was an echidna that they'd met shortly before the accident that would give them their powers. They saved her, along with three other girls, on that night. And there she stood, a smile on her face and an Angel Wing Police Department uniform on her back. Said uniform was mostly grey with black accents, and embedded on the left breast pocket was a symbol of a halo with one small wing attached, and the initials of the department written in the circle of the halo.

"Julie-Su!" Knuckles smiled. "It's been some time."

The pink echidna giggled. "Indeed it has. The last time that we met, you were startup cops, and I was just a damsel in more distress than a damsel would care to find herself in."

"It could have gotten worse if we hadn't stepped in," Sonic shrugged. "Looks like things have changed, though. You're our contact here, I'm presuming?"

"Yep! And I got promoted to sergeant last week!" Julie-Su giggled. "Not bad for a year and a half, huh?"

"I'll say," Tails smiled. "That's quite a rise up through the ranks. Good going."

"Thank you, fuzzy," Julie-Su smiled, tipping her uniform hat to him. "So, what can I help you boys with?"

"We're looking for a guy named Zayd. Big, black fur, weasel Mobian, sells drugs to college kids," Sonic said. "And no, that last part is not hyperbole. That's literally what we caught him doing."

"If you caught him doing it, then why are you out here looking for him?" Julie-Su smirked.

"We chased him," Knuckles said, "but it turns out that he's enhanced, like we all are now. And he almost burned our friend's leg off."

"Oh, the broody boy with the white chest fur," Julie-Su nodded. "Shadow, right?"

"Yep," said Sonic. "He's hospitalised at Star Light right now. And, if it's at all possible, we'd really like your help in catching Zayd."

"Well, if you don't mind my asking, how'd he come to be out here?" Julie-Su asked.

Sonic sighed. "He's a drug dealer. He knows his way from city to city. We don't know where he'll go after he's done here, and if he made a sale earlier today, then he might not be around for much longer."

"We bumped into a fan who said she saw someone selling something," Tails added. "The description wasn't great, and it might not even be him, but she was adorable, and we made a promise to her." Tails saw the looks from Sonic, shrugged. "You can laugh at me later, but I felt that it was of great importance to sign that doll for her."

"So, the big freelance cops want the regular police's help, eh?" Julie-Su asked.

"To be fair, we ask for it a lot from other places," Sonic said. "So, yes, we'd really appreciate the help. Please?"

Julie-Su nodded. "All right, I'll get some of my unit to look at any security footage they might have seen. You three ask around, see if anyone saw anything else."

"I'll go with you," Tails said. "I'm pretty good at technology stuff."

"Sure thing," Julie-Su smiled. "We'll let you boys know if we see anything."

"Thank you," Sonic smiled. He then turned to Knuckles. "So, you know this place inside and out. Should we just start here in the middle?"

Knuckles nodded. "We'll split up. I'll check the left side of the plaza, any stores and such, and you check the right side. Ask if anyone saw Zayd or anyone buying from him. Then we'll meet back here when we're done."

Sonic gestured his head to a hot-dog stand. "Last one here has to buy lunch?"

Knuckles extended a hand. "Deal."

Sonic shook it, smirking as the two broke apart. He kept to his word, checking out the right side of the plaza. He caught a brief sight of the hot-dog vendor's profile, seeing his hat covering most of his face. He shrugged it off and went back around to asking questions to the people, eventually coming across a human woman.

"Excuse me?" she asked. "You're... you're freelancers, correct?"

"Well, I'm one quarter and the leader of them, but yes," Sonic nodded. "How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if I could help you, actually," the woman replied. "I saw that you were asking around if anyone saw someone. And also... I may or may not be a fan of yours." She opened her coat to show a shirt with Sonic's face on it, but his quills were golden and shining. "Don't ask why it's like that..."

"I will not," Sonic nodded as the woman zipped her coat back up. "So, to rephrase my earlier question, how can you help me?"

"You said you were looking for Zayd, right?" she asked.

"You know him?" Sonic asked.

"I know someone around here who buys from him from time to time. He tells me that, even though Zayd doesn't come up here often or stay for too long, the product is always worth it."

"And... what, you want me to put this friend of yours in jail for buying drugs from a dangerous criminal?" Sonic asked.

"How is he dangerous besides selling drugs?" the woman asked curiously.

"One of my friends is in the hospital because of that ass-hole," Sonic growled.

The woman gave another nod, brushing past a man who was walking through the centre. He apologised to her, going over to a hot-dog vendor and striking up a conversation. Sonic kept a close eye on it as the vendor reached to give the man what he'd ordered, but then said vendor recognised Sonic. And Sonic recognised him back.

"Shit..." the blue hedgehog said.

"What is it?" Knuckles asked.

"It's one of those guys who took over Jade Mountain with Nack from all that time ago," Sonic said. "He must have escaped to here somehow."

"Do you think that he could lead us to Zayd?" Knuckles asked.

"I'd go and ask him, but he might get freaked out," Sonic replied. "He probably remembers us."

"To be fair, we did kind of throw him in jail," Knuckles said. "But how did he get out? And why is he here?"

"Maybe he got off a bit easier than others at the penitentiary," Sonic suggested.

"Okay..." Knuckles cleared his throat. "So, what do we do now?"

Sonic nodded. "I think that I'm going to go and talk to him."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Knuckles asked.

"No, but... fuck."

The man started backing away more from the food stall, and the customer who bought the hot-dog turned to see the two freelancers. He appeared confused as to what was happening, but then the man behind the stall stepped out quickly form behind it, putting a small gun to the customer's back and sneering at Sonic and Knuckles.

"What are you two doing out here?" he asked. "Following me? Trying to put me away for good?"

"If you keep on, then yeah, we just might do that," Sonic said. "To be honest, we're not here for you."

"To be double honest, we were just going to ask some questions to find someone out here," Knuckles added.

"Who?" the man asked, relaxing his gun's grip.

"Have you heard of someone named Zayd?" Sonic asked.

The man gulped, nodding. "I know him. I see him around here sometimes."

"Well, we're here to find him," said Knuckles. "And put him in jail too, if possible."

Sonic saw the criminal's posture shift, and he spoke again. "What's your name?"

"Jin," the man replied. "I'm... I'm not working for Zayd. Or Nack. Or anybody." He held the gun up. "This is just for protection... I'm nervous every day since I got out of jail myself. I didn't want to work for that psycho, and I came out here to get as far away from him as possible. And then you all show up..."

"Take it easy," Sonic said, walking slowly up to the man. "Just put the gun down on the ground. We can get you protection if you need it, all right?"

The customer was let go by Jin, and he turned and rushed away from it all in a panic, dropping his hot-dog in the process. After he did, Jin aimed his gun at Knuckles and Sonic, his eyes shifting between the two before he sucked in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and leaned down to put his gun on the ground, standing back up and raising his hands in surrender.

"Phew... that's good," Sonic said. "Thank you. And we promise, you'll be safe."

Jin nodded to him. "So... what do you want to know about Zayd?"

Meanwhile, with Tails and Julie-Su, the two were in the security room of the plaza where Edie had reportedly seen Zayd selling something. The two looked over the footage on different camera angles, seeing Edie holding her mother's hand, with the plush doll in her other hand, making Tails blush a bit at that.

"She's adorable," Julie-Su chuckled.

Tails nodded. "That she is. Do you see anything?"

Julie-Su scratched the back of her head. "I couldn't tell you if I have. Edie might have seen something, but she didn't give us a good time frame."

"She didn't have to. If that guy didn't hurt anyone, I guess that it's okay." Tails nodded. "The point is that she saw something. It was probably in the last 24 hours, so we have a lot of footage to go through if that's the case."

"I don't think that the security here will even allow us that much time," Julie-Su noted. "But it's not like a solution will just magically appear out of thin air."

Tails got a call on his phone, and he shot a brief look to the pink echidna before answering. "Hello?"

"Hey, buddy," Sonic said on the other end. "How are you progressing?"

"Honestly, not a lot so far," Tails said. "We have a lot of footage to go through, so it might take us a while. You?"

"We found an old friend," Sonic said. "It was one of the guys who used to run with Nack when we started out as cops."

"Wait, seriously?" Tails' voice rose a bit, earning him a concerned look from Julie-Su. "How'd that happen?"

"He was selling hot-dogs," Sonic said. "We're going to bring him up to you. He's not going to do any harm. Mostly because we had to make a promise to him. We'll tell you all about it when we get up there."

"All right, I guess that I'll see you when you get up here," Tails said. "See you in a few." He hung up, turning to Julie-Su. "Looks like you're not the only familiar face that we're seeing today."

"What do you mean?" asked the pink echidna.

"One of the first people we ever caught is on their way right now," said Tails. "I'm pretty sure that that person is someone who kidnapped you all that time ago."

"Wow..." Julie-Su said, her eyes wide in shock. "That's... that's not going to be good."

"I'll hold you back if you feel the need to punch him," Tails said. "Then again, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to do that."

Julie-Su shook her head. "Well, let's worry about that when they get here. For now, we need to help from here." She looked at the cameras. "Hmm... I wonder..."

"Wonder... what?" Tails asked.

Julie-Su gestured to left arm, the sleeve of the uniform covering it up before she lifted it, revealing a metallic one it its place. "I wonder if this will work..."

"Whoa, when did that happen?" Tails asked. "That was flesh and fur the last time that we met. Did you get into an accident like we did?"

Julie-Su shook her head. "No. It was a surgery that I went under when I first joined the police force here. Implants don't get to Angel Wing too often, so I was one of the lucky ones." She snapped her fingers, and her arm became flesh again before she snapped to turn it back into metal. "See?"

"So... is that all that you can do?" Tails asked.

"No, of course not," Julie-Su shook her head. "I can lift heavier stuff thanks to it. And I can do some hacking too. I just need to reroute something..."

She reached behind her head, moving her hat off of her head and showing some metal in her dreads. She reached up to open one of the metal parts, changing a few things with the wires inside of it before closing it again, putting her cap back on and turning back to the camera.

"All right, that should be good," the pink echidna said. "I just had to shift things around so that I could speed this process up."

"I'm not even going to lie," Tails said, "that was one of the coolest things that I've ever seen."

"I'm glad that you liked it," Julie-Su smiled.

She put her metallic hand onto the security panel, letting out a little grunt as she began speeding up all of the cameras at the same time. The daylight changed, the images flickered, people walked in and out buying various things until eventually, a brief sign of Zayd's sale popped up.

"Stop!" Tails said, looking up at the cameras. "Let's see... number 4 had the best angle there."

Julie-Su stopped and enhanced the camera screen, showing Zayd under a hood as he took some money from another person. He handed a brown bag to them, and the buyer then turned to leave, doing a check around for any cameras and unwittingly showing his face to the cameras.

"Looks like we got it," Julie-Su said confidently.

"You did all of the hard work," Tails chuckled. "All right, so, the person who bought what I can only presume to be drugs is a Mobian, white scaled salamander with light green eyes, male judging by his build... but where did he go?"

Julie-Su rewound the camera that had the best look at him moving away, and he appeared to pass through the crowd before disappearing completely. "Wherever he went, he got there in a hurry." She moved the screen back to Zayd's focus. "And your guy there left pretty quickly too."

"Any cameras for him?" Tails asked.

Julie-Su did another search, shaking her head. "Nothing pops up. I'm sorry."

"No, don't be," Tails said. "You did some great work. You just might have one of the best implants that I've ever seen."

"Thank you kindly," Julie-Su smiled, wincing a bit. "It does hurt a bit if I use too much. I tried to adapt it like muscle memory, like how most other implants work, but I think that's purely for the physical ones."

"What, a metal arm isn't physical?" Tails chided. "You can left heavy stuff with it, right?"

Julie-Su nodded. "The heaviest that I managed was a fridge, and that was just to move it aside after a spilled drink of ice almost hit some wires behind it. Please don't ask how."

"I will not." Tails confirmed with another nod. "But still, that's some good footage. I should get moving."

"Leaving without us?" Sonic asked as he walked in, Knuckles not too far behind him.

"Oh, hey, guys," Julie-Su smiled. "We were just finishing up."

"Well, how convenient," Knuckles smirked. "So are we." He pushed Jin forward. "Here's the guy that we were talking about earlier."

Julie-Su looked the man up and down. "Wait... wow, Sonic, you weren't kidding. I do recognise that guy." Her eyes narrowed, and she glared at Jin. "This had better be good."

Jin threw his hands up. "Look, I don't want to cause any trouble. I set a course for myself after I got out of prison to put my life back on straight, and that's what I've been doing." He gestured to Sonic and Knuckles. "They're chasing after a drug dealer here. And, if I know Nack as well as I think that I used to, that means that he's involved somehow. And I don't want a damn thing to do with him."

"We have reason to believe him," Sonic said. "We promised him witness protection. But we can't grant that to him directly since we don't follow the traditional law rules, so... it has to be done here."

Julie-Su scratched her head. "I'll... I'll consider talking to my boss. As a sergeant, I can at least promise you that much."

Tails spoke up next. "You do know that he's in the penitentiary, right?" he asked Jin.

Jin nodded. "Oh, I know. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't have resources. He could sell me out at any time to anybody who wants me gone. It doesn't matter if he's locked up or not."

"All right," Julei-Su nodded. "I already said that I'll do what I can." She turned to Sonic. "You're sure about this?"

Before Sonic could answer, Jin pulled out his gun and put it on the ground. "It's just for protection. That's it. I've never had to actually use it. I... I just use it to scare people off. Bad people, if that changes anything."

Sonic looked back to Jin, then Julie-Su. "Looks like that's all that we need, then."

"Thank you..." Jin said. "And... I'm sorry for kidnapping you. And trying to force you into a slave trade ring."

Julie-Su sighed. "It's fine..." She turned to Sonic and Knuckles. "In better news, we did find some good footage that points to where Zayd might have gone."

"What'd you find?" Knuckles asked.

"Come see for yourself," Tails said. "You might be able to make more sense of it, since you're from here and all."

"If I knew where they all were, I'd be out looking for them myself," said Julie-Su. "I don't know this city as well as I thought..."

Knuckles petted her shoulder. "It's fine. Even if you've lived here for longer than me, it can still be a bit of a maze if you don't know your way around it all." He looked at the screens. "What do we have?"

Julie-Su rewound it to show the sale between Zayd and the salamander. "We've got this. We don't know who the salamander is, but we can confirm that Zayd was selling when Edie said that she saw it."

"Pretty stupid of him to show his face on the camera," Knuckles noted. "But at least we have a lead..."

"Hey!" The security guard called out. "Sorry to interrupt, but my lunch break is about over. Did you find everything that you need?"

"As much as we could," Julie-Su nodded, unplugging herself from the cameras. They went back to filming live, and she saw the salamander from earlier on the screen. "No way..."

"Well, that was very fortunate," said Sonic. "Let's get moving."

Julie-Su nodded. "You guys take this one. I'll get our friend here to the station."

The blue hedgehog nodded in reply, and he and the other freelancers pushed past the security guard, getting back outside and seeing the salamander walking in the opposite direction. They moved closer, drawing the salamander's attention. He turned and nervously faced them before gulping and rushing off the other way.

Sonic let out a grunt of annoyance as the salamander darted off, stumbling over a garbage can as he turned into an alleyway. He was decently ahead of the freelancers, so he made another turn into an adjacent alleyway, stopping to take a breath before moving again... only to bump right into Sonic.

"AH!" the salamander panicked. He turned to see Tails behind him.

"You were right, Knuckles," said Tails. "These are pretty good alleyways to play hide and seek."

Sonic picked the salamander up by his collar, pushing him against a wall. "You. Zayd. Speak. Now."

"Z-Zayd?" the salamander asked. "That's not my name..."

"I don't give a shit what your name is," Sonic said. "You bought drugs from him, yes? What did you get?"

"I... I ain't telling you pigs nothing!"

Sonic pulled the salamander away from the wall and slammed him against it again. "We're freelance agents. Which means we can use lethal force if necessary. Just like your dealer did to a friend of ours today."

"I'm telling you, I didn't buy any drugs!"

"We literally have you on camera," Sonic said. "You bought drugs at the plaza. From a weasel with black fur. Is any of this ringing any bells? Or do I have to jog your memory?"

"I don't know nothing! I swear!"

Sonic sighed. "Tails, if you wouldn't mind."

"Gladly," the yellow fox said.

He then grabbed the salamander by the shoulders, taking him from Sonic and spinning his tails to fly several feet up into the air. Then he kept going higher and higher, making the drug buyer scream in panic. He kicked and struggled, but as the trip got higher up, he stopped resisting, worried that he would be dropped back down faster than he would have liked.

"I'll talk!" the salamander said. "Just put me back on the ground! Please!"

Tails flew close to the ground again, dropping the salamander back on the floor when they were close enough. "You'd better start."

"All right, all right! I bought from Zayd, okay? I know that he has a guy named Keegan. He's a human, black guy, and he hands out around here more than Zayd does. Keegan takes care of any sales when Zayd's out of town."

"Where is he selling next?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know!" said the salamander. "But it wouldn't be in the plaza again like earlier. He's too smart for that."

"Then where?" asked Knuckles.

"I... I think the sports centre. There's a basketball court that's a popular spot. I buy from there sometimes..."

"Fantastic stuff," Sonic said. "Thank you for all of your help. It was quite useful." He turned the salamander around, putting some handcuffs on him. "And you are going to make yourself more productive by going to prison."

"Oh, come on..." The salamander sighed.

Knuckles looked up at the sky as it started to darken. "We should get moving. Zayd might not be around much longer."

Tails spoke up. "You two follow the lead. I'll stay here with our friend and deliver him to the local law enforcement. And besides, you'd be a better guide around this place than me."

"Oh, totally. We've all got to do our bit for society," Knuckles smirked, turning to Sonic. "Let's head out, leader."

Sonic and Knuckles both hopped onto their hover-boards, and thanks to the red echidna's guidance, they found their way to the basketball court that the salamander brought up earlier. They reached there in time to see a figure in a hoodie walking away, a cloud of smoke passing either side of his face as he turned his gaze to see the two Mobians. As soon as he got them in sight, he turned back around and immediately started running away.

"Getting really tired of chasing these guys today," Sonic said as he sped up.

"It's a good workout," Knuckles shrugged.

Sonic shook his head, then his eyes widened as he saw Zayd in the distance, revealing his implant. Quickly thinking, he pushed Knuckles away from him before jumping off of his own board, causing the ball of acid to fly under his feet and miss him completely. He landed back on his board and kept dodging the black weasel's attacks until he saw Keegan next to Zayd, holding a gun up.

'Oh, that's great...' Sonic slid again as Keegan fired before veering to his left.

He then pressed on the back side of his board, calling up the shield bubble as he got closer. The bullets bounced off of his shield, ricocheting away with ease. He caught Knuckles out of the corner of his eye, and he gave a nod to him as he went around the other side of the bad guys, taking a nearby back alley.

Sonic kept pushing forwards, eventually catching up to Zayd and Keegan. He hopped off of his board as the two turned around to run away, so he chased them on foot. Thanks to his implant, he didn't have to boost his speed a lot to get to them, but he slid to a stop as the two met a double clothesline from Knuckles.

"Boom!" Sonic exclaimed. "Very nice work, big fella!"

"Oh, nobody comes to my town and starts something without me getting involved," Knuckles said, picking the two up. "All right... you two... would you care to explains yourselves?"

"Fuck you, copper!" Zayd snarled. He then gasped in pain as something sharp hit him in the back, causing him to crumple forward. "Ah, dammit!"

Sonic spun his gun, the muzzle glowing a light blue after firing an electrical bullet. "Oh, that doesn't hurt you as much as normal bullets would. But the opportunity was there. And considering what you've put us through today, you should consider yourself very lucky that I'm not using actual bullets." He then put handcuffs on Zayd and Keegan both.

"You got lucky..." said Keegan, turning to Zayd. "I told you to lay low, man."

"I'm not the one who led the cops here!" Zayd said.

"Lucky for you they didn't find- OW!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Zayd said, stamping on Keegan's foot.

"Didn't find what?" asked Sonic.

"Nothing..." Zayd spat. "I'm not telling you guys a damn thing..."

"Oh, right?" Sonic asked. "Because, last time that I checked, you and Nack aren't on great terms. And it'd be nothing for me to transfer you to a prison in, say, Green Hill. So, either you tell us your secret and get off easy, or you don't tell us and get off worse. Because Nack is not going to have any mercy when he buries you."

"All right..." Keegan said.

"Don't you say a word!" Zayd warned.

"Shut the fuck up..." Keegan shook his head. "We've got a base nearby. I'll tell you where it is."

"Dammit..."

So, Keegan kept his word, telling the two where the base was, as well as what was in it. The two freelancers were soon rejoined by Tails to have a look around the place that Zayd and Keegan called their "base". They put in a call to get the Angel City Police Department involved, soon finding several stashes of drugs. One of the officers had a piece of paper, walking over to Sonic.

"Here," he said. "We think that this was his route after he left Angel Wing."

Sonic looked it over, seeing the next location as Marble Stone. "I mean, we caught the bastard. We probably don't need this any more." He put it in his pocket anyway. "But... just in case."

The officer nodded. "Good work."

"Oh, you're the guys who did the hard stuff," Sonic smiled. "We've got to head back home anyways. We did what we had to do." He gave a salute to the soldier before heading back over to Tails and Knuckles, showing the map to them. "Look. These were the next few spots Zayd was going to hit."

"If he had a guy here in Angel Wing, he could have other guys in other places just waiting for him," said Knuckles.

"Then we'd better put a stop to them," Tails added, extending a fist. The other two bumped it with their own, and they headed out, hopping back on a boat to return to Green Hill.

* * *

 **And that's another one done! Longer, more action in it, I hope you liked the twist at the end too. I'll see you soon for more of this, then possible a bit more after that. I hope that you'll all continue to enjoy this one in the meantime. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.**


	12. Stretch Your Legs

A few days had passed since the freelancers caught Zayd and Keegan. Even though they had the map to go and take out any future dealings that the black-furred weasel may have had, they instead chose to wait out their time with Shadow in Star Light while he recovered. He was getting the bandage off of his leg on that day, the others gathered around him... as was Rouge, which surprised him.

"All right, the paste should have fully recovered the injury," the nurse said as she removed the bandage, showing Shadow's leg with the skin and fur grown back in full. "And there it is! You're all good!"

"Does he get a lollipop for being so brave?" Sonic smirked.

The nurse handed one to Shadow, who shrugged and took it. "Thank you. For both the help and the lollipop."

"And where's my thanks?" asked Rouge.

Shadow smirked. "Thank you for sitting next to me and falling asleep a lot. And for taking time out of your work to be here." He reached up to hug her. "I appreciate it."

"Aw, ya big softy..." Rouge laughed lightly. "Come on, let's get you out of bed."

"Wonder how many times Shadow's been waiting to hear those words from Rouge..." Knuckles muttered, getting an elbow in the side from Tails.

Shadow hobbled a bit as he stood up, extending his leg to crack the knee. "Ah... there we go." He walked over to also elbow Knuckles in the side.

"Well, good to see that you're all better," Knuckles said, gasping a bit more at Shadow's elbow than Tails'.

Sonic chuckled. "All right, I think that it's time to head out."

The nurse smiled. "You're all okay to go? No crutches or wheelchairs or anything?"

"Eh, I can manage," Shadow said. "Thank you again for all of your help."

The nurse nodded politely, getting Shadow to sign his name on a clipboard. He nodded again in thanks, and he left the room, then the hospital itself, soon followed by the others. They all made it back outside, and Shadow reached to stretch his arms back, letting out a yawn and turning his head to creak his neck.

"Ah... man, I can feel my bones again... finally."

Sonic chuckled at him. "I mean, if you really want to stretch your legs, you can hop on a mission with us."

"How long would it take?" Shadow asked.

"We don't exactly know," Sonic admitted. "And anyway, we'll just save it for when we get back to the base. We can actually come up with a plan that way."

"Speaking of," Knuckles said, "Tails and I still need to find out who delivered to that Merrick guy."

"Do you think it had anything to do with Zayd?" asked Sonic.

"He was in Green Hill," Tails noted. "But it wasn't him that sold the Fokus to Merrick."

"He's right," Knuckles said. "I was interrogating at Angel Wing with some of the cops there, but there was no sign of Fokus being delivered from Zayd."

"Keegan, maybe?" asked Sonic.

"Nah, that was inconclusive too," Knuckles said. "He was more of a mover if anything. He mentioned that he had some associates, but he didn't say if those are tied in to who Zayd was planning to deliver to when he got out of Angel Wing."

"We'll talk more about it at headquarters, I guess," Sonic said. "We can probably get set up better when we're back home."

"And I work in Green Hill anyway, so I'll join you on the way back," Rouge added.

"Sounds fair," Sonic said.

The others all gave noises of similar agreement, hopping on their hover-boards on their move back to Green Hill. Knuckles' board had been repaired thanks to the efforts of Charmy, Vector, and Espio, and he set himself a mental note to pay them back with some dinner later. The ride back home was an easy one, with Rouge hanging on to Shadow's back as they crossed the motorway back to Green Hill, stopping as they saw Jade Mountain.

"Man... I can't believe that I skipped breakfast..." Knuckles said, his stomach rumbling.

"This good with you, Rouge?" Sonic asked. "I mean, are you okay with a quick pit stop?"

"Only if you're paying," Rouge smirked at him.

Sonic shook his head playfully, and they pulled up to the parking space for their boards. They hopped off and parked them, locking them in before heading into the restaurant. It had been refurbished since the first incident with Nack, with new, shinier walls and tables, a different wood used on the chairs, new staff members too, and a wider range of flavours on the menu.

They all sat down at a large table, playing an odd man's out game of rock paper scissors. Knuckles lost, so he had to order for everyone else. As he got up, though, he noticed a familiar sight out the corner of his eye. "Manic? And... Sonia?"

Sonic turned around, seeing his brother and sister sat at a table in the far corner. Without wasting any time, he got out of his seat and greeted his siblings with a big hug. "Man, I've missed you guys!"

"We live in this part of Mobius," Manic said lightly. "We're kind of hard to miss."

"Yeah," Sonia agreed as the hug broke. "Not many people look like a punk rock hedgehog couple. Even though we are siblings, so it's kind of weird."

"Well, I propose that we move on from that and, say, invite all of your friends over for food," Manic offered. "We just ordered, so now we're waiting."

"It's cool," Sonic said, sitting with them. "Knuckles is ordering for us anyways. If there's one thing that he's good at besides kicking ass, it's remembering food orders."

"What was that? You wanted an extra sour lemon with your ribs?" Knuckles called from the counter.

"I could do that, you know!" said the cook behind the counter.

Sonic playfully sighed. "We save the city on a daily basis, and this is the thanks that I get."

"And not even just this city," Sonia said. "Still, the fact that you've gotten more popular lately is pretty amazing."

"We had fans in Angel Wing when we went there on a mission the other day," Tails said, walking over to pull up a chair. "I signed a plush doll of myself for a little girl. It was adorable."

Manic chuckled at that. "Anything else new?"

"Well, I have to talk to Nack again a little bit later," Sonic said. "But lunch is a lot more important. As is catching up with my family, of course. How's mum?"

"She's fine," said Manic. "She had to work today, so she's not here to enjoy. Which is a shame, as she's really grown a fondness for this place."

"We'll take something back for her," Sonia shrugged. "I'm sure that she'll appreciate it."

"I don't mind paying for it," Sonic said. "Just tell her that it's from me."

"Will do, bro," Manic smiled, looking up as Knuckles walked over. "Looks like you'll have to head back, buddy."

"You've got to be sh-" The red echidna turned to see a kid eating some food there too, sat in a booster seat for toddlers. "Shaking my leg. What do you need?"

"Just an extra bit of chicken for our mama back home," said Sonic. "Well, for when she gets back."

"You know," said Manic as Knuckles left again, "it's been a while since you saw her. You can bring it home with you later after your meeting with you-know-who."

"I think that I'll do that," Sonic said. "Later, though."

Soon, the freelancers were all sat around the same table, enjoying the pleasant surprise of Manic and Sonia as company and getting the chance to catch up with them since they'd last met. They enjoyed a few laughs with each other as they ate, and they were finishing up and getting ready to leave, with Shadow having offered to take out the trash before they all wound up outside.

Sonic gestured to the extra box of sweet chicken in his hands. "All right, I'll take this back to base and then drop it off at our old house after I'm done."

"We may not see you there, since we've both moved out," Sonia giggled. "Hence why Manic suggested you taking the food there yourself."

"Ah, that does explain that part," Sonic smiled. "All right, I'll definitely do that. Hopefully, I'll bump into you guys again before long."

"Hopefully," Manic smiled, going over to hug his brother. "See you around."

Sonia joined the hug too, echoing her green hedgehog brother's sentiment. They turned to leave, giving a wave to Sonic, who returned the gesture. After they'd disappeared, Sonic and his fellow freelance agents hopped onto their hover-boards, making their way back to their base. As soon as they got back inside, Sonic put the chicken in the fridge, wrapping it in an extra layer of foil just in case before turning to address the other three.

"So, what's the plan for the near future?" asked Shadow.

"Well, my plan is to go and see Nack and give him an update on our progress with Zayd," Sonic said.

"Dude, we caught him," said Knuckles. "That's all of the progress that we need."

"Yes, but I am going to be showing him this," Sonic said, bringing up his phone. He scrolled to show a copy of the plans that Zayd had made to move forward with any more deals that he had planned. "And I'll be telling him what it is. If he wants us to keep chasing him, then we do that. If not, then we'll do it anyway."

"Are you sure that that's a good idea?" Shadow asked.

"Dude, we're freelancers," Sonic said. "We can run our own missions. Even if Nack tells us no, it doesn't mean that we have to listen to him."

"Oh, so now we don't have to listen to him?" Knuckles asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought that was what we were doing up to this point."

"Dude, take it easy," Tails said.

"I mean, why break the cycle?" Knuckles said. "First, he gives us the information. We follow it, we find out that he's telling the truth, and what does he get out of it?" He stepped closer to Sonic. "Do you really think that he's okay with just the satisfaction of know that you took out more of his competition?"

"Actually... no," Sonic replied honestly. "I get that you're upset because of what happened the other day, but you have to remember, Nack and Zayd weren't associates. When I talked with Nack before we went after Zayd, he said that he didn't like him and that they never worked together." He looked back up at the red echidna. "You already know that I don't like what we're doing, but it's getting us results. It's getting bad people off of the streets and in prison cells."

"What about the people up in Westopolis?" asked Shadow.

"We can't go up there again, and you know why," Sonic said. "The force up there is fucked all the way up. We can't ask their cops for help because they're corrupt, we can't bring cops in from other jurisdictions because it would cost them their jobs, and the four of us alone aren't nearly strong enough to take down all of the criminals and cops that live up there."

Knuckles let out a breath. "You saw what it was like up there. In Angel Wing. How many people did you see that looked like me that weren't Julie-Su? How many people do you think that we're going to lose, regardless of species, if one of Nack's leads is wrong?"

"They're all been accurate," Sonic said. "A little bit too accurate, if you ask me. If he leads us wrong now, then trust me, you'll be the first guy who gets a swing at me for being stupid."

Knuckles gave a light smile. "Promise?"

Sonic shook his head. "Don't scare me like that, ya dick." He laughed a bit, the tension between him and Knuckles relieved. "But still, either way... I promise."

The red echidna gave Sonic a hug and a pat on the back. "Had to do something to keep our fearless leader on his toes." He broke away from the hug. "But what are the rest of us supposed to do in the meantime while you're off talking to Nack?"

Sonic shrugged. "Whatever the hell you want to do. You can come with me if you want, you can stay and maybe catch up with people... maybe have another gaming tournament."

"I mean, we could invite our girlfriends over to do that," Tails said. "I'll invite Cosmo, Knuckles can invite Shade, and Shadow can invite Rouge and Maria."

"Hey, that's not fair," Knuckles said. "Shade's my fiancee now."

"Do I get to be the best man if Tails keeps making jokes about the women in my life?" Shadow asked as he sat down on the couch.

"You do not, but I appreciate your enthusiasm," Knuckles smiled.

Sonic shook his head. "I'll see you guys later. I'd best go and catch up with our inside man." He paused before turning around. "You know, the more that I say that, the less that I believe it, considering that more and more people know."

"He would have wanted people to know anyway," Tails shrugged.

"Eh... fair."

The blue hedgehog gave a wave before exiting the building, hopping onto his hover-board and riding off to the Green Hill penitentiary.

* * *

 **At Green Hill Penitentiary...**

* * *

Nack was laying back in his cell bed, reading the book that Ovi had suggested. He was two thirds of the way through, which surprised him given his limited free time, and he had just finished a paragraph when he heard footsteps getting louder as they got closer to his cell. He put his bookmark in the page that he'd just finished, putting the book on his bedside table before getting off of his bed.

"I'm surprised that you got that much reading in," said Gerren on the other side of the bars.

"I am too," Nack admitted. "I suppose that it doesn't hurt to wake up earlier than when the warden says so."

"Eh, it's not exactly something that he's going to punish you for," Gerren noted as Nack walked over to him. Gerren made a closed fist, handing a small piece of paper to Nack, who read it and handed it back, nodding. Gerren nodded as well. "You're sure that you're good with this?" the guard asked, his voice lower so as not to attract as much attention.

"Sure I'm sure," Nack nodded, his own voice also lower. He cleared his throat and spoke up as another guard passed behind Gerren. "So, what's on the agenda for today, sir?"

Gerren chuckled lightly. "Breakfast first, then straight to work. The usual." He opened his left hand up as a sign to Nack, who nodded in understanding. "No special treatment for anybody."

"No, none whatsoever," Nack insisted. He heard the other cell doors being opened, his own following suit, and he stepped out to meet Gerren.

"Oh, and Sonic has requested another meeting with you," Gerren added as he started guiding Nack to the food hall.

"Ah. I trust that he's taken care of another old rival of mine, then," Nack said. "Either that or he's lost."

"I don't know," Gerren said. "He and the other freelance agents have had a bit of a lucky streak lately."

"Well, if that is the case, then I hope that Zayd is on his way over here," the purple weasel snarled. "Preferably as part of a prison transfer."

"I can neither confirm nor deny where he was caught," said Gerren. "Or even if he was."

Nack smirked. "Time will tell."

Gerren nodded, going ahead to stand guard at the cook's counter. The guard leaned over to the cook, who nodded and disappeared into the back room briefly. He returned, standing close to Gerren, who slipped him a note behind his back. The cook held it under the counter, looking down to read it and nodding at Gerren.

"No problem," he said.

Nack waited in line with the other prisoners, who all went up and got their food one by one. Nack was wary of the guards that were close to the line, watching over the double-sided tables as well as prisoners went to sit down at them with their breakfast. Nack gave a small incline of his head to the cook, who gave a wink as he poured the purple weasel his food. Nack made it a point to turn and smile at the prisoner behind him before going to sit down with his morning meal.

"You enjoying your day so far?" asked the guard by the table that Nack sat at.

"Oh, absolutely," Nack replied. "Got some reading done, about to have me a nice meal too... and I've been staying out of trouble as well. Isn't that what your system wants from me?"

"Oh, don't you start that spiel again," the guard said. "Or I'll throw you back in your cell."

"All right, all right, I won't," Nack said, raising his hands defensively. "Now, could I please have my meal in relative silence?"

The guard turned to see some prisoners from other tables come and sit down next to Nack. "That won't be a problem."

Nack looked around at the inmates that sat next to him. "Gentlemen... how may I help you?"

"You can start by telling us why you sat on your own," said one of the inmates.

Nack sighed. "Because I like sitting alone at breakfast. It gets me away from the noise of your lot."

"In this place, our lot and your lot are the same," said another inmate. "Although, I don't see you with a "lot", as it were. Unless that guard that you've got on a leash is just that good at eating the shit that you spew out."

"He helps a lot of other prisoners in this place," Nack said. "He's a guard. All of the guards watch over the prisoners to make sure that they don't get into any more trouble. You do know that that is how a prison works, yes?"

"Do you know how it works, smart-ass?" asked the third inmate. "You don't get special treatment in here. I don't care who you were out there, but you get the same as the rest of us, do you understand me?"

"This is getting fucking ridiculous..." The purple weasel shook his head. "I have specifically asked time and again for no special treatment, and I haven't received any. It just happens to look suspicious because... well, I suppose that I rouse that suspicion just by being here. After all, I made Westopolis' prison my home. Literally, I made it my home. As rundown and neglected as it was, I knew where I stood over there. And everyone showed respect, not because they knew how powerful I was, but because they knew their places and stayed in them." He addressed the prisoners sat before him with a quick once over of his eyes. "And apparently, you boys need to be taught a lesson in that form of respect."

"Oh, we'd love to teach you a thing or two ourselves," said arguably the largest inmate there.

"And I'd love to learn," said Nack. "But it'll have to wait until breakfast is over. Now, would you kindly go back to your own tables? I find it very difficult to eat when I have all of your faces in my line of sight."

"Come on, you heard him," said a guard. "Leave him be."

The prisoners sneered at Nack, but they respected the guard's wishes and went back to their own tables. Nack looked up to see Ovi sat down at a table too, with a guard sat next to him and helping to feed him. Nack gave a respectful nod to both Ovi and the guard, going back to eating his food. After a few bites, he found something crunchy, giving a nod to Gerren.

"All right, hurry it up," Gerren said. "You've got work to do. Chop to it."

The purple weasel chuckled at that, sliding the crunchy thing under his tongue. It didn't take long for all of the other prisoners to finish their breakfast, Nack included, and they all lined up to get to work. Today's job was a bit different, as parts of the prison needed repainting, so everyone got a bit of the stuff on their prison uniforms before going for their break. Nack was in the middle of reading his book when a guard, not Gerren, tapped at his cell.

"You've got a visitor," he said.

"I wonder who it could be?" Nack asked drily. He followed the guard down to the visiting room, and nodded as he saw Sonic sat and waiting for him. "You're exuding an unusual amount of patience today," Nack said, sitting across from him.

"Well, I've had a couple of days to recover after catching your man," Sonic replied.

"You got Zayd?" Nack asked. "That is fantastic news. One of the dirtiest bastards in my circles is now out of the picture." Nack grinned. "Where is he?"

"Angel Wing," said Sonic. "We had to really go searching for him, you know. You didn't mention just how far his reach went. In fact, for someone who hates him, he moved around as much as you did when you were out there."

"Well, what else did I not mention?" Nack asked.

"That he had an implant," Sonic said. "Or that he was good at planning ahead."

"An implant?" Nack asked, genuinely confused. "He... he never had one when I knew him."

"You'd better be telling the truth there, because one of my friends almost had to have a leg cut off because of it," Sonic said. "The implant that Zayd had spit acid from his hand. Very effective. It took out Knuckles' hover-board too."

"Well, I apologise for your troubles, but this isn't my fault," Nack said. "So... I would really appreciate it if your tone with me were a bit more measured."

"Well, I apologise for my rudeness," Sonic countered. "But you'll get your measured tone when you start telling us the whole truth of what you know about the people that you want us to put away."

"I didn't know about the implant," Nack said. "And as for the part of him moving around, I didn't think that I would have had to tell you. He's a rival of mine, first of all. Secondly, you should have been able to figured that one out for yourselves."

Sonic sat forward. "You remember our deal, right? You tell us all that you know about the people that you want taken care of. That was the plan. Because, if you don't, then it wouldn't be too difficult to set your execution date a few years earlier than planned."

Nack sat forward too. "And if you don't keep honouring your end, I snap my fingers, and whoever I want gone stays gone for good, just like that." He snapped his fingers as his sentence finished.

"You have no power here," Sonic said.

"And neither do you," Nack retorted. "You bend the law to your own use all of the time."

"Bending it is better than breaking it," Sonic said. "Like you did when you were out in the real world, we're just doing what we can to help make the lives of the people that we care about a little bit easier."

Nack smirked. "Catchy. You should market that."

Sonic shook his head. "Perhaps we could get back on subject."

"It would make an interesting change of pace."

The blue hedgehog gave another shake of his head. "Back to what I was saying earlier, about Zayd planning ahead... when we caught him and his associate, Keegan-"

"Keegan?" Nack asked. "Son of a bitch... Keegan used to be one of my top guys. Now I really am thankful that you put Zayd away."

Sonic cleared his throat. "Uh... yeah..." He pulled out Zayd's plans from his pocket, turning them so that Nack could see them more properly. "This is what Zayd's plan was if he ever got out of Angel Wing."

Nack looked it over. "Hmm... Marble Stone... Star Light... Aqua Lake... and Spring Yard." He pursed his lips. "If it's all in that order, then all of those places are pretty far apart from each other."

"That's what I'm thinking," said Sonic.

"Why are you showing this to me?"

"Well, I wanted to ask if you knew anyone in those areas that Zayd might have been looking to sell to," said Sonic. "It was Fokus that he was pushing, so these people must be important enough to know who you are too."

Nack sighed, looking over the map and poking a finger at Marble Stone. "May as well start there. There's a group there called the Monument Gang. They mostly try to move guns around there, but they don't push out to other places. Because of that, there's not a lot of other stuff going on down there on its own, and their leader likes to place an order or two from Zayd."

"Does he have a name?" Sonic asked.

"Her name is Alina," Nack said. "She's a human in charge of Mobians. If you want to find her, search up the lower south end of the city." Nack then pointed at Star Light. "This one... this baffles me. I don't know anyone there who could have been looking to buy from him. It can't have been Mona, because she was the reason that you were up there chasing Zayd in the first place." He scratched his head. "I don't know why he'd be going back there early."

"Maybe someone missed an order," said Sonic. "Nobody to watch out for up there?"

"No, not that I know of," Nack said.

Sonic pointed to the map. "What about Aqua Lake?"

"Sort of the opposite of what's happening in Marble Stone. The Monument Gang up there haven't been around long. But I have a lot of former associates in Aqua Lake." Nack scratched his head. "Some are part of the system. Although, you'd remember that from the convoy all of that time ago, wouldn't you?"

Sonic shook his head. "I mean, considering that we rushed up to Westopolis after the fact and caught your ass, I'd say that it wasn't all that bad. Are there any gangs or anything to look out for?"

"No, just my former workers," Nack said. "They might not even be all together in one place. They could have split off themselves. I haven't really kept in contact with any of them."

Sonic scratched his head. "That leaves Spring Yard."

"There's only one person that I know about in Spring Yard," said Nack. "An underground drug lord. A Mobian named Jem. And I know this guy. He's nasty. Word is that he got himself his own implant. I don't know what it does, but I know that he has one."

"It's one up on the last guy," said Sonic. "But still, Zayd meeting with Jem... I've heard that guy's name before when we did missions over in Spring Yard. I know that the dude is bad news."

"You never thought to go after him before?" Nack asked, surprised.

"Because he's a bad dude," Sonic said. "He's got a lot of connections. If we're going to go after him, we can't go in under-prepared."

Nack smirked. "Looks like I'm helping you to kill two birds with one stone, then."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Sonic said. "But, as always, I do appreciate the help." He looked up at the clock. "And it looks like our time is up anyway."

Nack gave a nod, standing and extending a hand. "I hope that you won't come back to soon. You've got a busy few days ahead of you."

"Well, at least we'll be a bit better prepared." Sonic stood up too, looking down at Nack's hand. Giving a sigh, he shook it in return. "Happy?"

"Oh, very," Nack said as the grip of the handshake broke. "You take care now."

Sonic shook his head. "Don't tell me what to do."

Sonic turned and left as Nack was guided back to his cell by the prison guards. He sat down on his bed, turning to peer out of the corner to see that the hallways were fairly empty. He turned and did a quick glance under his pillow before reaching under his tongue. Surprised that he'd kept it hidden from Sonic, he pulled out the little white pill and chuckled to himself.

"I don't give you enough credit for this, Gerren, but..." He muttered. "You're a fucking genius."

Back outside, Sonic hopped onto his hover-board, making haste towards headquarters. He went inside and saw Knuckles and Shade on the couch, watching a scary movie, with Shade and Sonic both recoiling as a teenager got decapitated, complete with an over the top spray of blood. With a shrug, Sonic walked over to the kitchen, checking the fridge to make sure that the chicken was still there.

"Ah, good," he said.

Knuckles turned as he heard his voice. "Oh, hey, you're back," he said.

"Yep," said Sonic. "And... well, I'd like to borrow you and the other two, if it isn't too much trouble." He glanced around. "Where are they, anyway?"

"Training area," Knuckles said. "Tails is running some tests on Shadow's implant to make sure that the acid didn't cause any shock damage or anything like that."

"Ah, smart," Sonic said as the door to the training area then opened. "Oh, how convenient. We were just talking about you two."

"How's he doing?" Knuckles asked.

"The implant wasn't shaken too badly," Tails said. "Considering who it is, that doesn't surprise me."

"I'm right here, you know," Shadow said. "But yeah, looks like my implant is fine."

"AH!" Shade screamed at the movie screen.

Knuckles looked down at his fiancee. "Babe?"

She looked up at him with whimpering eyes. "Y-Yeah?"

"Want me to pause the movie so that I can talk with my buddies?"

Shade nodded. "P-Please..."

"Doesn't she run a kickboxing school now?" Tails asked.

"I will tornado kick you if you make any connection there," Shade warned.

"I... I didn't mean it that way..." Tails said.

Shade smiled, walking over to kiss his cheek. "Nah, you're too adorable for me to to that." She nodded. "All right, get on with your mission doing."

Tails chuckled, opening up the holographic map on the table. "So, what do we have?"

Sonic handed Zayd's map over, and Tails nodded. He copied the image into the computer on the table, and the four spots that Zayd was aiming for all sparked bright orange on the holo-globe. Sonic focused on Marble Stone first, nodding to Tails who enhanced the image.

"Play that funky music, blue boy," Shadow said.

Sonic chuckled. "This is where Zayd was going after he was done in Angel Wing. Nack told me that there's a gang out there to watch out for called the Monument Gang, led by a woman named Alina. She's a human leading a Mobian group, so... that's what we have there."

Shadow pointed at Star Light. "Why is that lit up?"

"That's where Zayd was going after Marble Stone. Nack doesn't have anything on that either," said Sonic, not zooming in. "His guess, as well as mine, is that Zayd missed a sale there because we were busy chasing after him over there."

"It could have something to do with Merrick," Tails offered. "Maybe Zayd was around that area when we were scoping out Merrick's place."

"Maybe so," Sonic nodded. "You want to give it a look?"

"Tomorrow, after I get back from my delivery with my parents," Tails said. He nodded to the map. "Aqua Lake's next up, huh?"

"Yep," Sonic said, again not zooming in. "A lot of people who used to work for Nack hide out there. He didn't give us a lot else, but if it's anything like the museum incident, they'll probably be working at something big."

Shade spoke up. "So, that's three different places... that leaves the fourth."

Sonic nodded, enhancing Spring Yard. "Spring Yard City. It's been a while since we've been up there. And it might be the most difficult one to get around, because there's a dude named Jem up there."

"Wait, that Jem?" Knuckles asked.

"Yep," Sonic replied. "And, according to Nack, he recently got an implant. We don't know what it does, but at least we know that he's packing some power."

Shadow pointed to his leg. "That would have been nice to know about Zayd."

"Nack said that he didn't know about Zayd's implant," Sonic said. "I'm inclined to believe him. Nack has always told us what we need to know. If he knew about the implant, he would have told us."

"Yeah... I suppose," Shadow said. "Still, four places at once... we might have to split up."

"Who goes where?" asked Tails.

Sonic shrugged. "I don't know right now. We'll figure that out tomorrow when Tails is done with the delivery, then we'll probably get to work on it Saturday or Sunday."

"Weekend warriors fight on again," Knuckles smirked.

"Yep," the blue hedgehog smiled, shutting down the display. "But that's for then. For now, it's time to chill. And speaking of which." He turned to open the fridge up again, getting the chicken out. "I've got a dinner date with my family. As in my biological one, I mean."

"Yeah, you go ahead," Knuckles smiled. "See you."

Sonic gave a short wave before leaving the others, hopping on his hover-board and heading to his family's house for dinner.

* * *

 **And another one of these! I hope that you're all liking it thus far. Next will be another chapter of this, then a one-shot, and then a little request that someone made. Stick around to find out what that'll be. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.**


	13. Safe Hands

Sonic woke up, his eyes falling on the familiar sight of the bedroom ceiling of his family's house. He smiled as he thought back to the previous day. After having dinner with his family, he spent most of his time at Amy's place. After that, Sonic decided to take Amy to his family's place for teatime, where they enjoyed roast potatoes, chicken, peas, and carrots.

"Hey, handsome," Amy smiled at him, curled up next to him.

"Hey, beautiful," Sonic smiled. "Sorry for the small bed problem. I guess I didn't want you to sleep on the couch."

"Why didn't you take that up?" Amy giggled.

"I ain't being in the same house as you without us sharing a bed in some capacity, you know that," Sonic said as Amy got up. "Your purrs when you snore are really soothing."

"Well, I'm glad that I have another way to effectively help you sleep," Amy winked. "Shame that we couldn't do the other one last night."

"Doesn't stop you at your place where you live with your sister."

Amy punched his side. "Shut up..."

Sonic chuckled, kissing her cheek. "Want to go and get some breakfast?"

"Want to wake your family up first?" Amy asked.

"We're up!" said Manic from his bedroom. "And we're so thankful that you guys just went to sleep last night!"

Sonic smiled at Amy. "You heard them. Let's get our morning grub on."

Amy smiled back. "Let's get dressed first. Good thing that I brought a spare change of clothes."

The blue hedgehog nodded, leaving the room and waiting for Amy to get dressed. He gave a wave to Sonia and Manic as they walked past him to head to the bathroom so that they could brush their teeth, and the door behind him opened to see Amy walk out in fresh clothes. Sonic kissed her cheek before getting dressed too, styling his quills a bit before also walking out. They headed to the kitchen, seeing Aleena waiting there, and Amy chuckled.

"What?" the hedgehog mother asked.

"Nothing," Amy said. "It's just that, last night, Sonic was telling me about where he's going for his next mission. There's a leader of a group in Marble Stone and her name is Alina too."

"Huh. I never made the connection until just now," Sonic laughed.

Aleena giggled a bit too. "Hopefully, she's not also a Mobian hedgehog with three beautiful children."

"Nah, she's a human who leads a Mobian gang," Sonic said. "She might be a mother, though. I don't know that much."

"What would you do if she were?" Manic asked.

Sonic shrugged. "I mean, we're not going to use lethal force. We rarely need to. She'll just be captured. If she has kids, she'll get to see them every once in a while."

"That aside," Sonia interrupted, "we should eat. Then you can drive Amy to school."

Aleena smiled. "I made bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages and there's some bread and butter if you want them in a sandwich." She handed out the drinks as well. "A decaf for you, Amy."

"Much appreciated," Amy said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a couple of her medication pills and swallowed them with the coffee. "Ah... there we go."

"Been improving, huh?" Manic said. "I remember a time when you were having a lot more of those."

Amy shrugged. "I can't really explain it myself. I guess I've just been healing well. Amazing how no surgeon in the world can fix it because it's too risky of an operation, but just stay healthy and take your tablets regularly enough, and it'll calm down eventually." She checked the packet of tablets. "I should pick some more up from the pharmacy. I'm running low. Eh... I can do it on the way back home."

"So, with Amy heading to her real job," said Manic, "what is my hero brother doing today?"

"Taking a day off, actually," Sonic said. "The missions are probably going to be over the weekend, maybe a little bit longer. I'll probably spend all day on my own. Tails is going with his dad to ship some implants off, Knuckles is going to oversee one of Shade's kickboxing classes, and Shadow is going to do... whatever it is that he does."

"He will need to make a choice between the women in his life," Amy said. "You know, I can be a pretty good matchmaker."

"I wouldn't bother trying with him," Sonic said. "For as long as I've known him, he's been mostly a loner. He rolls with us all of the time, but I don't want to force him to make a choice, you know?"

"I know," Amy smiled. "That's what makes you such a good friend and leader."

Sonic smiled, and the family and such focused on their breakfast. They made more small talk as they ate, and as soon as they were finished, Sonic and Amy gave their thank yous and left the house. Sonic opened the passenger's side door for his car, letting Amy in before sitting opposite her in the driver's seat, setting a course for her school. The pink hedgehog selected Pup's Morbid Stuff album to listen to on the way there, which earned a half-raised eyebrow from Sonic before they pulled out and drove away.

"I'm just saying," Sonic said as they pulled up to Amy's school, "it's a great album, but why is something so dark oh so catchy?"

"Eh, it sounds like the kind of thing that Shadow would listen to when he's in a happy mood," Amy smirked.

"You joke, but he has admitted that," Sonic smirked back. "All right, you have fun teaching the minds of the future."

Amy kissed Sonic softly before opening the door behind her. "See you later, stud." She let a hand trail over his shirt, going under it. "And my sister's working overtime tonight... we can make up for lost time last night..."

Sonic grinned widely. "I'll hold you to that one..." As Amy opened the door behind her, Sonic reached to his stomach, letting out a pained hiss.

"Missing me already?" Amy grinned.

Sonic chuckled lightly. "I'm sure that I'll be fine." He looked a bit behind Amy, seeing Sally waiting. "Looks like you're expected."

"You take care, okay?" Amy said.

"Sure," said Sonic. "Pick you up at the usual time when you're done?"

"Sounds good!" Amy gave a wave, blowing another kiss before Sonic waved back, pulling away from the front of the school.

Back at the base, Tails was on the computer in the communications room, taking a look at Shadow's footage from the previous day. He compared it to previous footage of the black and red hedgehog, putting the videos next to each other and smiling as he saw the differences.

Shadow, next to him, spoke. "Not that I don't appreciate you doing all of this, but you do have to go and see your parents soon, right?"

Tails nodded. "I do indeed. But, I mean... you've been killing it lately with your implant. I think that you've gotten a lot better lately." He slowed down the footage. "See how the clip from yesterday is faster than the clip from last month? You're tapping into your implant more efficiently. I can't wait to run these tests by the other guys too."

"And yourself," Shadow reminded. "Remember, you've got an implant too."

"Yeah, I know," Tails said. "Think we should put in a call with Rotor? He might be able to get more in depth with it."

"We'll save that for after our missions, I think," said Shadow. "You've got to get your fluffy butt ready and go and meet your parents."

Tails shut down the computer. "All right, I'll head out. My dad said they wanted to get the delivery done a bit early today, so as to avoid anyone possibly stealing it. If possible, it'd be nice to ask Zayd where he got that implant from."

"Yeah... it would be," Shadow said. "Still, the less that we think about that prick, the better. The point is, we took care of him."

Tails headed out of the room, followed by Shadow. "True, but I can't help but feel like there's something that we're not getting. If I'm being honest, it's starting to bug the shit out of me."

"You'll figure it out." Shadow patted the yellow fox's shoulder. "I'll see you when you get back, okay?"

"Yeah, sounds good," said Tails.

He headed to the front door, giving the black and red hedgehog a parting wave before hopping onto his hover-board. He rode on it to his parents' house, parking it as soon as he got there. He left the board by the side of the porch, knowing that it would be safe there as he pressed the doorbell and waited.

Soon, his mother opened the door, smiling down at him. "There's my man."

Tails smiled and walked in. "You and dad okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Rosemary smiled. "As is your girlfriend."

Tails rose an eyebrow, but turned to see Cosmo sat down at the kitchen table, eating some cereal. She waved at Tails and smiled. "Hi, sweetie!"

"Cosmo? When did you get here?" Tails walked over to her and kissed her cheek.

"Well, your father asked me to watch over the drive as well with you," she said. "I can take a day off from being a secretary at the police department to spend some time helping you."

"And Avery allowed that?" Tails asked.

"Last night, actually," said Amadeus. "I asked him about it, and he was fine with it."

Tails chuckled. "Looks like Mina's rolling solo, then."

"Well, are you going to stand there all day and wait?" Amadeus asked. "Come and grab some breakfast with your family!"

Tails' stomach rumbled. "Yeah... that's an idea and a half..."

His parents laughed at that, and he sat at the table next to Cosmo. She playfully put her head on his shoulder as he did the same, and his mother soon put a bowl of cereal down for him as well before sitting next to her husband, smiling up at him as he read the morning newspaper.

"You'd think that he would have given that up by now, considering how far technology has come," Tails chuckled.

"You can't beat the feeling of paper in your fingers, my boy," Amadeus said, not looking away from his paper.

Rosemary shook her head next to him, but a kiss from her lips to his cheek caused him to turn and smile at her as she spoke. "That's one of the many reasons why I love you. You don't change your ways. Which helps, as none of your ways are bad."

Cosmo smiled dreamily. "How long have you two been married?"

Amadeus smiled. "Together for... man, 25 years? We were together for 3 before we got married, then we spent a year trying for a baby. We were actually worried that we were never going to get one..."

"However, eventually, we got that baby." Rosemary smiled at Tails. "And here he is, our little miracle man."

"I... wouldn't go that far..." Tails blushed.

"Well, would you go as far as maybe popping the question one day to Cosmo there?" Amadeus asked, causing more blushing from his son and his son's girlfriend both.

"I... I think that I might wait for a bit," Tails said. "One of my friends is engaged right now. It'd be awkward to do it around the same time." He turned and held Cosmo's hand. "But... I've found my someone special. Even if it takes an eternity, I will ask her. One day."

Cosmo blushed, squeezing Tails' hand and softly pecking his lips. "I love you."

"I love you too..." Tails smiled.

"Aw..." his parents said.

Tails smiled more at that before clearing his throat. "So, uh... where are we dropping the implants off to?"

"There's a couple of places we need to hit up," said Amadeus. "A hospital here, then another one up in Scrap Metal, and then we're both dropping off and picking up from a research base in Mystic Ruins."

"Your dad still has connections there, and they run tests of all kinds on the new implants to see what they're capable of," Rosemary added. "When we get them back, we go through it with a fine-toothed comb to see if the scientists missed anything, and then when those new ones are ready, we prep them for delivery too."

"It's a pretty intricate system," Cosmo pointed out.

"It sort of has to be," Amadeus shrugged. "Implants are in higher demand than ever now. It doesn't hurt to get some extra hands to help us to meet those demands."

"And it especially doesn't hurt to have a pair of safe hands to make sure that the deliveries go according to plan," Tails surmised.

The fox father smiled at his son. "That's my boy." He turned to Cosmo. "Oh, and you're coming with us too, so thank you as well."

"Don't mention it," Cosmo smiled.

Tails smiled too, and they all finished eating their breakfast. They all went outside to see Amadeus' truck, and several crates besides it. Amadeus opened the door up, and the other three helped him to lift all of the crates into the truck. They closed the doors, and Amadeus and Tails both gave Rosemary parting hugs as she wouldn't be joining them on the trip.

"Are you sure that you're fine here?" Tails asked. "I could always ask one of my friends to swing by. As far as I know, none of them are busy."

"I'll be fine, son," Rosemary smiled. "It'll give me a chance to come up with new designs. Or do some shopping. It's been a while."

"If you're going to be doing some shopping," Amadeus called from the driver's seat of the truck, "we're low on eggs. And milk. And-"

"I'll jot it down," Rosemary smiled. She walked to the side of the truck, leaning up to kiss Amadeus, who kissed her back. "You take care now."

"I will, darling," Amadeus smiled. "We'll see you when we get back!"

"See you later, mum!" Tails called.

"Bye, Mrs. Prower!" Cosmo finished.

Rosemary gave a wave goodbye. "I'll be sure to whip up something good for dinner when you get back!"

"I should hope so!" Amadeus laughed.

He then gave a tap on the side of his door, and Amadeus gave a couple to the back of it before Amadeus started driving off. The other trucks that were going to deliver waited around the corner for Amadeus to get in front of them, and inside the lead truck, Tails sat beside Amadeus, while Cosmo sat behind her yellow fox boyfriend.

"So... dinner," Cosmo said. "Is it okay if we all have it together?"

"I mean, I'm not going to say no," Tails said. "Is that okay with you, dad?"

"Are you kidding? Of course it is!" Amadeus turned to Cosmo. "You're more than welcome at our house any time, you know."

"I appreciate that, Mr. Prower," Cosmo smiled.

"Mr, Mrs. Prower... just call me Amadeus and my wife Rosemary," said Tails' father.

Tails looked up ahead, seeing the hospital come into view. "We're here."

Amadeus looked, nodding. He waved a hand to signal the other trucks to come around, and they all found a spot to park in the car park. Amadeus, Tails, and Cosmo helped to move some crates of implants around, taking them to the back doors of the hospital. Some of the doctors were waiting for them, and one of them looked up at Tails.

"Oh, it's you!" he said. "I'm sorry. I'm the one who helped pick the implants for you after... well, your accident..."

"Ah," Tails said. "Well, thank you for your continued service."

"Thank you for delivering these for us to continue that service," the doctor smiled.

"No problem," said Tails as more boxes came in. "Say, uh... could I ask you something before we leave?"

"Sure."

"Well, a criminal me and my friends were chasing down recently had an implant. It spat acid. Do you know of any implants that do the same?"

"Wait, an implant was stolen?" asked the doctor.

"That's what we think," Tails nodded.

The doctor shook his head. "No. We counted them all as soon as they were dropped off, and they were all accounted for."

"Hmm..." Tails said. "All right, thanks anyway."

"No problem. You all take care now. And again, thank you."

Tails smiled and waved back, helping to move the rest of the crates in before leaving with the others. They got back in their trucks, and soon, they were moving up onto the highway, playing some music as they made their way to Scrap Metal city. The other trucks honked as the city proper came into view, and they drove deeper into the city to reach the hospital.

"You know," Tails said, "if there were a place where an implant could be stolen, it could be here."

"What do you mean?" asked Amadeus.

"There's a particular strain of ass-hole around here named Ryu," said Tails. "He sells drugs and other things around these parts. He's small-time, but he's also a pretty good thief."

"And you think that he could have gotten his hands on an implant?" asked Cosmo.

"Maybe nothing that serious, but I won't know until I ask him," said Tails. "But I'm not going to seek him out today. I don't want a nice day with my family to be ruined by a headache. That headache being Ryu."

"You really don't like this Ryu fellow, do you?" asked Amadeus.

"He's stolen a lot from me and the others," Tails admitted. "He's also just kind of a jerk."

"Such language," Amadeus playfully chastised. "You really do take after your mother," he added with a laugh.

"I'm telling her that you said that when we get back," Tails laughed back.

Cosmo smiled. "I think that your dad's point is, just stick with us in the vehicle. Don't go chasing after Ryu. I don't like him either, and I don't think that I've even met him."

"Probably for the best," said Tails. "I just wish that I could say that we're in safe hands here. For a city with a low crime rate, you can't be too careful."

"You've had trouble in Star Light before," Amadeus shrugged. "It doesn't surprise me that it'd be here too. And everywhere else. It doesn't matter where you go, son, there's always going to be a little bit of bad. You can't get rid of all of it at once."

"I guess so..."

Amadeus gave a simple nod in reply, and they were soon approaching Scrap Metal's hospital. They repeated the same process as they had with Green Hill. Pull in to the car park; get the crates in; make sure that the trucks were all ready to go after the fact; and Tails was talking to a doctor there too.

"Say, last time that you got a delivery from my father there," he hooked a thumb, "were all of the implants accounted for?"

The doctor nodded. "Every last one of them."

"Hmm... are you sure?"

"Yes," the doctor said. "We got all of them that we needed. Why?"

"It's just that, I was recently chasing a guy who had one, and I thought that he might have stolen it from one of my dad's previous deliveries," said Tails.

"No, we haven't seen anything," the doctor said. "We'll do a recount and let you know."

"Much appreciated," Amadeus said. "Just call me when it's done. I need to put out some calls anyway to rectify this."

"Where are you off to next?" the doctor asked.

"Mystic Ruins," said Amadeus. "Last drop for the day."

"I have a friend in our police here. I can get an extra truck to travel with you just in case."

"No, that'll be fine," Amadeus smiled. "We've been to Mystic Ruins before. But thank you for the help."

"Just thought that I'd offer. You take care now. And thank you! These implants are going to help us a lot here!"

Amadeus shook the doctor's hand again, smiling before leaving for his truck. He was joined by Cosmo and Tails again, this time with Cosmo taking the shotgun seat and Tails sitting behind her. The truck convoy pulled out, and outside, the weather was starting to get closer to midday, causing Cosmo to check her phone.

"Is that the time already?" she asked.

Amadeus chuckled. "I did say that it wouldn't take long. I didn't say how long. And Mystic Ruins is quite the drive from here."

"I hope that mum's started cooking something special already, then," Tails smiled. "Then again, knowing her, I wouldn't put it pasta."

Cosmo giggled at the terrible pun. "You've been hanging around Knuckles too much."

"Oh, totally," Tails agreed.

Amadeus joined the laughter too as the truck convoy kept moving, soon approaching the highway and following the road to reach Mystic Ruins. As they closed in on the said city, Cosmo took a moment to take it all in from her seat, her eyes widening as she saw it all for the first time.

A lush green popped up, marred by faded browns. The city itself almost looked Aztec in nature, with a lot of its buildings fitting that mould, but updated for their year of 2218. Even with how all of the buildings looked, they was enough nature to go around, with tall trees, small islands, and clear blue water.

"Wow..." Cosmo said, her mouth and eyes agape. "When you told me that this was a beautiful place, you weren't kidding..."

Tails smiled. "I guess that my words didn't do it justice. It's been some time." He chuckled. "Weird to think that I bounced between this and Scrap Metal a lot. A natural marvel in the former versus an industrial marvel in the latter."

"I feel bad that there's not a shop for making implants here," said Amadeus. "But that old place was a bit of an eyesore."

"Much like how we must look in these trucks right now," said Cosmo as a window on a building changed. It appeared to have a holographic image, switching from one advertisement about sports to another about a type of soda. "Maybe it's not all that natural."

Tails chuckled. "Hey, most of it is still man-made. Not all of it. Some of the more technically minded of this city thought that stuff like that was a good idea. Not to mention the implants that we're dropping off too, you know."

"And considering that Mystic Ruins is a popular tourist city, I agree," said Amadeus. "Second to Angel Wing, I think."

Tails snorted. "I wonder if I'll bump into any fans out here..."

The others didn't respond to that, and the rest of the drive carried on in relative silence. Since they were heading to a research centre, they had to drive around the city's roads a bit more. But Amadeus knew the route - he had dropped things off there before - and they soon were gathering up to park around the left side of the building, where Amadeus peeked his head out to see a speaker as a steel gate stopped their progress.

"State your name and business," the speaker's warbled voice said.

"Amadeus Prower. Delivering cybernetic implants."

The speaker beeped before responding. "Access granted. Proceed."

"Thank you, robotic voice," Amadeus muttered as he drove forward.

The procedure went as normal. The only difference being that the building looked different, and inside there were tests being conducted on some implants. As Tails and Cream were helping to carry the last few crates in, they got to see some of the newer implants being used, such as one subject turning his dismembered arm into a metal gauntlet, or another one forming a force-field around herself which defended her from explosive grenades, with no damage at all.

"They look great," Tails smiled.

"Glad that you think so," said one of researchers there. "And thank you for your help."

"No worries," said Tails. "But before I go, could I ask something real quick?"

"I suppose..."

The yellow fox sighed. "I'll just cut to it. Uh... when my dad last delivered to you, did any of the implants get stolen?"

The researched shook her head. "No. We counted them, and they were all there."

"0 for 3, then." Tails sighed, disappointed. "Thanks anyways." He hopped back into the truck with his girlfriend and his father, and he saw that the other two trucks had already taken their leave. "What's their deal?"

"Oh, they have other deliveries to make," said Amadeus. "Not implants or anything, so there's no worries there."

"We cleared out all of the crates anyway," said Cosmo. "All of them have been delivered and accounted for."

"Not bad for your first day," Amadeus smiled at her.

Cosmo giggled. "So, what's next?"

"Head home and have a Prower style dinner," Tails said. "I don't think that you've ever eaten with me and my family at the same time. You're in for a real treat."

The green girl smiled at that, and they were soon back on the highway, driving back home to Green Hill. They'd made it back to the Prower household with time to spare on the dinner, as Rosemary was just preparing some gravy for it all. She'd dished up different portions of it all before setting the plates on the dinner table.

The dinner itself was quite lovely. They laughed and had a fun time with each other, and Tails was thankful that work was almost completely gone from his mind. After it was all done, Tails washed the dishes up, and as he was finishing up, Cosmo hugged him from behind, the yellow fox's parents having adjourned to the bedroom.

"So..." she began, "what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

Tails smiled. "Maybe spend the rest of the day off with you. I was thinking chocolate ice-cream dessert at your place, some TV... it'll be nice to actually feel like it's a day off."

Cosmo giggled. "That sounds good."

Later, Tails had finished doing the dishes, and got his phone ready. "All right, time to call the man himself..." He rang Rotor's number, and the walrus soon picked up on the other end."

"Hello, Tails," Rotor said. "What can I do for you?"

"We've got some pretty big missions over the weekend, but I was wondering if, when we were done, you'd take a look at our blood? See how far our implants have come?"

Rotor nodded on his end. "Sure." He paused. "Wait, missions? Where are you going?"

"A lot of places. We're starting with Marble Stone, then Star Light, then Aqua Lake, and lastly, Spring Yard."

Rotor sighed. "Not exactly the closest of places to each other... I can't say that I envy you right now."

Tails sighed back. "I know. But yeah, it'll take a while until we're done, and a test that I ran this morning seems to point to some areas of improvement. It'd be nice to have those theories proven by you."

"I'll be more than happy to," Rotor replied. "I don't mean to sound rude, but I do have a corpse to cut open now."

"Eugh. Good luck," Tails chuckled. "And thanks again."

"No trouble. See you!"

Rotor ended the call, and Tails headed to the living room, seeing his father finish up a conversation on the phone, hanging up with a sigh and putting a hand over his face before Tails started speaking. "What was that about?"

Amadeus turned to see his son. "I just finished calling the last few places I delivered to before today. None of them saw anything out of place with their implants either. Nothing stolen or undelivered or... anything." He let out another sigh. "Sorry that today was a bust, son."

"No, it's fine," Tails smiled. "I got to spend time with my family, and I got to help people. So... it wasn't all bad."

Rosemary smiled besides Amadeus. "So, what are your plans now, son?"

"I'm going to be spending the night at Cosmo's," Tails smiled.

"That's fair," Amadeus chuckled. "Did you have fun, Cosmo?"

The plant girl nodded. "I had a great time. Getting to drive around with you was a lot of fun, and the dinner was lovely." She turned to Rosemary. "You'll have to tell me the recipe for that lasagne one day."

"Oh, totally," Rosemary giggled. "You two go and have fun, okay?"

"Thanks for having us," Tails smiled. "I love you both."

"Aw... beat us to it," Amadeus chuckled. "We love you too, son."

Tails and Cosmo soon turned to leave, saying their goodbyes before the yellow fox fired off some texts to the others. Sonic was at Amy's bar, enjoying some drinks with her when he received the message. Shadow was sat back at the headquarters, and he also got the message... and Knuckles' phone rumbled next to him.

"I told him to take it to the shower with him..." Shadow sighed. He reached for Knuckles' phone, seeing the text from Tails, but then he had a thought. "Hmm..." He checked through Knuckles' contacts, seeing Julie-Su's number and copying it onto his phone. He then hit the call button, waiting patiently as he heard the other end pick up. "Hello? Julie-Su?"

"Who's this?" the pink echidna asked.

"This is Shadow," the black and red hedgehog replied.

"Shadow? How'd you get my number?"

Shadow looked around, ducking out of the room to go to the communications room instead for more privacy. "I coped it from Knuckles' phone."

"Uh-huh. And you did that because... why?"

Shadow cleared his throat. "Say, uh... is Zayd still over there? Locked up, I mean."

"He is, but I'd very much appreciate an answer to my question first," Julie-Su said.

"I... I don't want the others to know about this. I want to come over to Angel Wing and talk to Zayd. Alone."

"You mean, you want an interrogation?" Julie-Su asked.

"I just... I need answers from him, Julie-Su. I need to know why. And how he got that implant." He paused. "I'm lucky to be walking because of what happened. It's personal now."

"Why don't you want the rest of your team to know?" Julie-Su asked.

"I need it to be under the radar. For Monday, if you still have Zayd by then."

"Oh, we have him on a lot of charges. He's not going anywhere for a long time." Julie-Su cleared her throat. "Why Monday?"

"Me and the others will be busy over the weekend. Lots of places to go and people to either see or put in prison." Shadow shrugged. "It's either or."

"I... well, I can't get in trouble since it'll be in my jurisdiction, but... are you sure?"

"I'm positive," Shadow said. "Please... I need to know..."

Julie-Su sighed. "All right... I'll make the arrangements. But you owe me for this one. Got it?"

"Oh, totally," Shadow said. "I promise, I'll take all of the blame for it if I get caught."

Julie-Su smiled. "That's a start. You have a pleasant night now."

"You too," Shadow said. He ended the call, heading back to the living room and hearing the shower door open. A few minutes later, Knuckles had arrived down the stairs, dressed in quite a nice suit.

"What do you think?" the red echidna asked.

"I think that you clean up nice," Shadow replied. "But I feel like you don't need to impress Shade with all of this when you've proposed to her already."

"What? I can't do something special for my lady?" Knuckles asked, smirking. He picked his phone up, seeing the message from Tails. "Ah... young love. I'm going out with Shade, Sonic's hanging at Amy's, Tails is with Cosmo..." He turned to Shadow. "Dude... you need to get laid."

"I... what?" Shadow asked, surprised.

Knuckles walked over to the black and red hedgehog, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Just do yourself a favour. Call Rouge over, and have some fun. The rest of us will be out anyway, so the fort is yours."

"What about... Maria?"

Knuckles paused. "Well, she's human, so that'd be... weird. And secondly, she's like a sister to you. If you meant about her feelings, which judging by the look on your face, you probably did... well, she wants you to be happy, right? And she's friends with Rouge. And I know that Rouge would want you to be happy too."

Shadow sighed. "I don't know if it's that simple..."

"What, have you never gotten... uh..."

"I have," Shadow said. "With Rouge... back in those days."

Knuckles couldn't hide his smirk. "And was it good?"

"That's none of your business," Shadow snapped.

"I'm just saying," the red echidna replied, holding his hands up in defence, "loosen up a little bit, buddy. Have a bit of fun." He checked his phone. "Shit, I've got to run."

"Have a good time..." Shadow muttered.

"Oh, I will!" Knuckles said, walking away. "And trust me, you will too!"

Shadow growled after Knuckles left, trying to shake the doubt from his head. "I... I guess he's right..." He looked at his phone, scrolling through the contact list and seeing Rouge's name. "Fuck it..." He dialled it up, waiting for a response.

"Hello, stud," Rouge purred on the other side. "And to what do I owe this late night pleasure?"

Shadow cleared his throat, trying to stay focused. "Did... did you want to come over for the night? I'm kind of on my own, and... well..."

Rouge giggled. "Don't worry, handsome. I'll be over to show you a good time..."

"I'll leave the door unlocked. See you when you get here."

Shadow didn't give Rouge a chance to reply before hanging up, and he sent a quick text to Maria telling her that Rouge would be coming over, feeling the need to be honest but not seeing the need to say anything else past that. About ten minutes later, Rouge walked through the door, her boots clacking on the floor.

"You know, it wasn't nice of you to hang up on me like that..." she said, walking up to him.

Shadow simply pulled her close for a deep kiss in reply, and soon, they were off upstairs.

* * *

 **And another chapter is done! I hope that you liked it, especially as it was nice to focus on Tails and his family. And I hope that you liked the ending as well. This will return soon, but I have a one-shot and then something else to put out, and after both those are done, it'll be straight back to this. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.**


	14. Head To Head

A phone alarm sounded on a table, causing said phone to vibrate. Sonic blearily reached over to turn it off, his eyes heavy and tired before he felt an arm wrap around his torso. He turned to see his pink girlfriend, Amy, slowly waking up herself, and he leaned down to kiss her forehead, laying back on the bed with her head on his chest.

"Hmm..." Amy snuggled into his torso, "your heartbeat feels nice..."

Sonic stroked a hand through her hair. "Is it because said heartbeat is a normal one?"

Amy giggled, lightly tapping his chest with a playful slap. "Shush, you..."

Sonic chuckled too. "Ames... uh... how did you, you know, get used to it? Also, I feel like I've asked that before..."

"No worries," Amy smiled. She lifted her head from his chest, moving to sit up with him and putting her head on his shoulder before answering. "It was... difficult. Being born with it, I didn't pay a lot of attention to it as a kid, even though I kept taking tablets for it. It didn't become more prominent until I hit puberty, and with the added stress of teenage hormones, it was the fucking worst..."

"Jeez, the mouth on you," Sonic winked playfully.

Amy giggled. "It didn't get better when I applied for my teaching degree, but as I kept going on with it, the medication helped a great deal. And now, I'm here with... well, the love of my life, the man of my dreams, and my own hero... when he's not out saving the rest of the world, that is."

"Yeah... speaking of which..." Sonic sighed.

"I know. You've got to leave soon."

"I'll be gone pretty much all weekend." Sonic stretched a bit in the bed. "But before I do, I don't suppose that my lovely girlfriend would make me some breakfast?"

"Wow," Amy said incredulously. "What kind of misogynistic age do we live in where the typical male Mobians want nothing but food and sex from the women?" She winked at him, leaning over to kiss him. "Of course. But you're helping."

"Sounds about right..." Sonic said. "Finally, the males are paying for years of oppressing the fairer gender."

Amy shook her head, kissing his cheek before sliding out of the bed. She got a change of clothes ready, and Sonic put on his spare clothes that he brought over the night before. The two headed downstairs, seeing Rosy asleep on the couch with a pair of noise-cancelling headphones dangling loosely around her neck, some cushions under her head, and a blanket over her body.

"Sis?" Amy went over, rubbing Rosy's side. "Come on. Wakey wakey, I'm about to makey eggs and bakey."

"How long will it takey?" asked Rosy sleepily.

"Not long, maybe," Amy said.

"All this rhyming is makeying me crazy," Sonic added. "Aw, dammit, I used improper grammar. Tails would hate me if he found out."

Amy giggled, and Rosy sat up, scratching her hair. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not going to help make breakfast. I had an all-nighter last night. And that was before I came back to the sound of you two banging."

Amy blushed at that, and Sonic turned to hide his face before clearing his throat and speaking up. "So... scrambled eggs?"

"Yes, please," Rosy replied. "Where are you going again when you've eaten?"

"Back to the base first to shower," Sonic said. "Then after that, Marble Stone. Then Star Light after that. Hoping to get both cities done today, the other two done tomorrow."

"Less talking, more breakfasting," said Amy.

"I wish that my life were that exciting," Rosy said. "All that I get to do is ward off drunk idiots with a shotgun, despite the fact that I'm the one allowing said idiots to drink."

"Well, at least you work on your mistakes," Sonic said. "I mean, we get to do that too, only out in a street and usually with a pistol. And the bad guy is either just drunk, or that and high too... it varies day to day."

Amy giggled, getting started on the breakfast as her blue boyfriend joined her. "And I get to take care of immature people all day as a kindergarten teacher. Only I don't need to get them drunk for that. I just give them something sugary and watch them go to town."

"Adding a little corruption for a bigger effect..." Sonic shook his head. "When did my beautiful girlfriend change fur colour, gender, and Mobius species?"

"I guess that she has a Nack for chaos," Rosy smirked. "I'm way too proud of that one..."

"Make that joke at the bar with Knuckles there, and he'll pay for all of our drinks for... however long eternity lasts," Sonic smirked.

Amy and Rosy both laughed, and the former of the two hedgehog sisters got the stuff ready for breakfast. Sonic helped her too, and before too long, they'd gotten the food all sorted. They took Rosy her breakfast, sitting down with her before Amy got her a drink of coffee too.

"You're a lifesaver," Rosy said, sipping the coffee.

"You should take a thermos with you to work when you have to deal with the riffraff of the bar," Sonic suggested.

"I do," Rosy said flatly.

"Then I'll shut up and enjoy my breakfast," Sonic chuckled.

Rosy playfully shook her head, turning on the TV. She skimmed through some channels, and the three made small talk as a heavy music channel played several Code Orange songs back to back. They'd all finished their food, and Amy put the dishes in the dishwasher before all three were then at her apartment door.

"All right, time for us all to head to work," said the pink hedgehog, turning to Sonic. "Good luck out there..."

Sonic smiled. "I've got a picture of you that I keep on my phone as a background. That's all the luck that I need. My nano-suit armour helps too."

"You giant cheese-ball," Amy smiled. "Get out of here and go and save the world."

Sonic leaned to give her another kiss, heading outside and hopping onto his hover-board. He gave a wave to the two Rose sisters before speeding off along the highway to get back to the headquarters. He saw everyone else's hover-boards there already, and he took notice of Rouge's car too. Smirking, he entered the building, stopping as he saw Tails and Knuckles turn to shush him.

"What's going on?" Sonic whispered.

"Shadow got some last night," Knuckles replied.

Tails gave the red echidna a slap on the arm. "The two fell asleep on the couch..."

Sonic peered over to see it. "Well, I hope that they used protection..." He looked back and forth between the two. "I think that we should wake him up. We've got shit to do..."

"We can hear you whispering, you know," Shadow mumbled in his sleep. He got up, Rouge still resting on him before also waking, rubbing her eyes as Shadow spoke again. "You're not as subtle as you think that you are sometimes."

"That's why we leave the sneaky stuff to you, dude," Knuckles noted.

Rouge looked down to see herself in her underwear, and she turned to kiss Shadow softly. "Thank you... for last night..."

Shadow smiled gently. "I should thank you... you were great, and... uh... it was nice, you know? To not feel so stressed for a change..."

"We're right here," Knuckles said.

Rouge giggled, reaching to check her phone. "I should get to work soon... Shadow, would you help me find my clothes?"

The black and red hedgehog nodded, and Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all turned around as the two got dressed and cleaned up. Soon, the two were all done, and Shadow walked Rouge to the front door, waiting as she put her shoes on before she leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"Again... thank you," Shadow smiled. "I'll, uh, see you when I get back."

"Swing by my shop and say hi, stud," Rouge winked. "Take care."

The white bat left, waving goodbye to the others, and Shadow's eyes met with the other three freelancers. "What are you guys smiling at?"

"Oh, nothing," Sonic shrugged. "Just, you know, it's nice to have a night where all of us got to go to bed with a beautiful girl and not just us three." He emphasised it by gesturing to himself, Knuckles, and Tails.

"Yeah, whatever," Shadow shook his head. "I thought that we had a job to do, don't we?"

"We do indeed," Tails said. "Let's head to the living room table thing and go over the briefing again."

The four were soon gathered around said table, and Tails brought up the map of Marble Stone. "We're heading here first. That's where the Monument Gang hide out, who are a Mobian group led by a human named Alina."

"What's the plan of attack?" asked Knuckles.

"The plan is to split up and ask around if they've seen anyone from the group," Sonic said. "Obviously, if anyone spots them up to anything, the others will try to help them out."

"After that is Star Light," Shadow said as the map shifted. "Shouldn't take long, though. It could just be looking into a sale that Zayd missed, but we have nothing else except for that."

"Then next is the beautiful city of Aqua Lake," Knuckles threw in, Tails switching the map around again. "That's where a bunch of dudes who used to work with Nackle-head are hiding out, probably working on something nasty."

Tails nodded, switching to Spring Yard City. "And that there is our last place to go. That's where that Jem dude is hanging out. He's a dangerous criminal with an equally dangerous implant which we know nothing about."

"All right, that's settled," Sonic said. "I know that I said that we'd be trying to go to all four places at once, each with different groups, but it'd be better if we stuck together and went to each city in order, one by one."

"Smart plan," said Knuckles.

"Not as smart as my plan, though," Shadow said. "I need to shower..."

"I do too," Sonic said.

"Why didn't you have one at Amy's place?" asked Shadow.

"That... is a good question," Sonic said. "Come on, let's get ourselves cleaned up."

The two hedgehogs did just that, showering and dressed in new clothes before coming back down the stairs. Tails and Knuckles joined the other two as they headed outside, locking all their doors and putting up all security measures before all four put their hover-boards into Knuckles' car, hopping in and soon peeling out and heading for the motorway that led to Marble Stone City.

The freelance group enjoyed listening to some music on the way up there, the long drive soon getting shorter as the sign for Marble Stone City popped up. Shadow got a good look at the city's outskirts, seeing that it lived up to its name with its unique architecture which also still had plenty of modern technology integrated into the buildings.

Knuckles rounded the corner, rolling up to the booth and speaking to the guard there, who was a Hispanic male. "Hey, what's good, man?"

The guard smiled. "You're here for work, huh?"

"Just here to stop some bad people, the usual," Knuckles said.

The guard shook his head. "Doesn't matter, bro. Still got to see your IDs. You're all lawmen... well, in a very loose sense of the term."

The four all showed their IDs to him, and he opened up the gate to let them pass through. Knuckles drove the car through Marble Stone City, and all of them took in the sights even more. Despite its architecture giving it a slightly gothic look, Marble Stone was one of the better places for sunny weather, and as previously mentioned, still up to date on the modern day tech.

"Kind of a shame that we're not here for sightseeing," said Sonic as Knuckles found a space to park.

"What do we do now that we're here?" asked Shadow "Same as usual? Fan out, ask questions and meet back up just in time for lunch?"

"Pretty much," Sonic said. "We don't have any contacts here except for some friends on Marble City's police force. It'd be best to keep a sharp eye out for anything. And remember, Nack said that Alina likes to try and get shit delivered from Zayd. As soon as you see someone who looks like they might know something, ask them about guns first. Then when that fails, ask if they know anything about Fokus."

"But aren't Alina and her goons near the lower south end of the city?" asked Tails. "What's the point in asking around?"

"It gives us a plan to to cut off any possible escape routes if they try to run," Sonic said. "And if there's any additional information to go around, then that's hardly a bad thing."

"Two and two?" Tails suggested.

"Who's with who?" Knuckles followed up.

"I'll go with Tails," Sonic said. "Knuckles and Shadow can pair up."

"What about if we bump into the Monument Gang on the way?" asked Tails. "We can't exactly go undercover here."

"We're going to take them head on," Sonic said. "It's been a while since we had some head to head action anyway."

"Would any of the cops here pose as Zayd trying to move something to Alina?" asked Shadow.

"Nah," Sonic shook his head. "I don't think that she'd buy it. If she's bought stuff from him before, she'll know how he operates. And we can't pose as his cronies either, because Zayd likes to handle his deals alone."

"So, go in full bore, no attack plan or scoping out?" Knuckles asked.

"Pretty much," Sonic nodded.

The red echidna nodded back. "I was just making sure."

The blue hedgehog smirked. "Let's split up, ask around, meet back here after we're done."

The others nodded in agreement, and Tails and Sonic split into one group, Knuckles and Shadow into another. Even though they'd been to Marble Stone City before, it was seldom and mostly for missions, but they did take in some of the landmarks as they looked around. After they were done asking questions, they met in their original spot, deciding to move their conversation to a hot-dog vendor and get some food.

"What do we have?" asked Sonic.

"Surprisingly low cholesterol considering what we eat?" asked Tails.

"Besides that, I meant," Sonic said.

Knuckles spoke up. "Some locals reported that they saw some suspicious looking people in vehicles, possibly trying to move guns around."

"One of the people that I spoke to, some did mention that that saw some folks in grey clothing with stony designs," said Shadow. "And also, a weird looking M on the chest, like it'd been skewed a bit. Apparently, it's bright yellow in colour."

"Right, so, we're just looking for weird arms dealers in strange and presumably stylish looking hoodies," Sonic said. "Can't be that difficult."

"What'd you two find?" Shadow asked.

"Someone said that they spotted something suspicious in an alleyway," said Sonic. "Matched the description that you said, actually. Mobians, grey hoodies, stony looking, yellow M on the chest..."

"We asked them why they haven't called the local police," said Tails, "and all that they said was that there wasn't enough evidence to go against them."

"To be fair to them, they do have a point," said Sonic. "We are here on a tip from Nack." He looked to the hot-dog vendor, paying for the food and thanking him. "Cheers, man."

"Anything else to add?" asked Shadow.

"That's all that we got on our end," said Tails.

"About the same," Knuckles said, turning to Sonic. "Still no plan?"

"Still no plan," Sonic nodded. "But we've got guns, nanotech, and hover-boards. I don't know what Alina's group has outside of also guns, and possibly sharp sticks and colourful language, but hey, part of the fun of this job is finding out."

"Do you want to just head out now?" Tails asked. "It won't take us long to get there, so we might not need the car."

"I'm good with that," Knuckles said. "Let's take our boards instead."

"I'm good with that too," Sonic nodded. "Any objections?" Everyone was silent, and Sonic smiled. "All right, let's finish these greasy and delicious hot-dogs first before we head out."

The other three nodded in agreement, finishing their food and putting away the trash before going over to Knuckles' car. They got to the back of it, opening the boot up and reaching inside for their hover-boards. They put on wrist communicators, made sure that their nano-suits were ready to go, and finally, they packed their weaponry, taking some pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles.

"All right, all kitted out and ready to go..." Sonic checked over his gear again. "Let's get this shit done."

They hopped onto their hover-boards, setting a course for the lower south end of Marble Stone City. As opposed to the rest of the city's more open atmosphere, as they got deeper into the south end of it, they found that it was where the technological stuff ended, the architecture focused more on marble and stone than the bright displays that propped up across the other ends of the city.

"Say," Knuckles asked, "did Nack specifically tell you which part of this end of the city that we're looking for?"

"No, but keep your eyes peeled," Sonic said. "I'm sure that something will pop up."

"Like a sniper sight aimed between my eyes?" asked Shadow, looking up.

Sonic followed his gaze. "Well, looks like we didn't have to wait too long to find them."

"So," said a female voice, "you must be the freelancers..."

The freelancers turned around to see a human woman approaching them, wearing a grey, stonewashed hoodie, with blue jeans of the same style and some black boots to end the look. She had long red hair which was dark brown at the roots, and she had a large scar covering the left side of her face, even partially blinding her left eye, which used to be brown judging by her right, non-damaged eye. Lastly was a small chain attached to her neck, showing a black crescent moon charm on the front.

"That we must be," said Sonic as some Mobians flanked the woman, both holding guns up at the freelancers alongside her. "And you must be Alina."

"Indeed I am," she said. "You made a really dumb mistake coming all of the way out here."

"I told you that we should have come up with a plan..." Tails whispered.

"I wasn't expecting to literally bump into the bad guys..." Sonic mumbled back.

"Bad guys?" Alina asked.

"You... you heard that?" asked Knuckles.

"Of course I heard that," Alina huffed. "I'm half-blind. Doesn't mean that my ears don't work."

"Well, I guess that there's no bullshitting our way out of this one," Sonic said. "We don't come in peace. We're here to put you in prison, as someone has a problem with you..."

Alina huffed again. "Fuckin' Nack... can't keep his nose out of our business..." She lowered her gun, but didn't put it away as she met eye to eye with Sonic. "So, that's what being a freelancer is? You take orders from a scum-sack like him and just obey like good little boys?"

"Well, to be honest, whenever anyone tells us that there's people running guns in a good city where they shouldn't be, we'd take that tip from them too," Sonic retorted. "We're here to stop you from, you know, running guns around in a good city where you shouldn't be."

"Maybe you should consider stopping Zayd," said Alina. "We're expecting a delivery from him soon."

"Huh..." Tails said, suppressing a light chuckle. "So, you know about us and that we were coming, but not that we put Zayd away in Angel Wing City?"

"You did?" Alina asked, getting a nod from the yellow fox for confirmation. "Hmm. Might not have been your best idea. We put that order in for a reason."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "You were planning a trap for him..."

"We were, but it looks like you took care of that for us," said Alina. "Minus killing him, of course."

"Look, we were just here to do a job," Sonic said. "Regardless of if Nack asked us or not, you're still selling guns around here."

"And not to other places," said Alina. "He told you that, right?"

"Yes, he did."

"Well, it's nice to see that that prick can get something right for a change." Alina gestured to her henchmen to put their guns down. "I think that we got off on the wrong foot here."

"I got that impression when you aimed a bunch of guns at us," said Knuckles.

"Apologies..." said the Monument leader. "For what it's worth... what we do is just for protection purposes. We only sell to people who need a weapon. Domestic abuse victims, shop owners, people like that."

"Have bad things happened because of you selling guns?" asked Sonic.

"They used to," said Alina. "If anyone goes too crazy with it, that's when we step in to stop them. We stop doing business with them after the fact too."

"How long have you been at this?" Shadow asked.

"A few months now," said Alina. "We learned quickly to be very careful and very discreet."

"Are you sure that you used to work for Nack?" asked Tails. "You seem way too smart to be associated with him."

"And you seem way too fluffy and cute to be a superhero," Alina replied. "Are you even old enough to drink?"

"I am. I just choose not to," Tails replied.

Knuckles smirked, muttering. "Chicks dig the fluff..."

"So... uh... what's the plan here?" asked Sonic.

"Follow us," said Alina. "We'll explain it to you."

The freelancers all nod, all following behind Alina on their boards, which they'd stayed on even during their brief exchange earlier. They continued to follow the Monument Gang until they saw a door made of marble and stone, and Alina pushed a hand against a switch to open it up, walking inside and being followed by the others shortly after.

The inside of the Monument Gang's little base was fairly well kitted out. There was plenty of weaponry to go around, some of it pretty advance in technology, and there was armour that seemed to match Sonic and the freelancers' nano-tech suits. Impressed, Tails gave a whistle as the other people there were practising firing some new guns on targets, everyone stopping to turn around as Alina made her presence felt.

"My people, these four Mobians are those freelance officers that we keep seeing on the news these days," Alina began. "Now, they were here on orders by one Nack the weasel to get rid of us and our business, but please, keep any violent tendencies when it comes to me mentioning that guy's name to a minimum. I've explained to these four what we're doing here, and I don't want to hear any complaints. Anyone says something that I don't agree with, they're out of here. Anyone does something that I don't agree with, they're out of here. Now... are there any questions?" After they all stayed silent, she smiled. "Good. That saves me a lot of trouble." She turned to the four freelancers again. "Follow me."

They nod, following her to a room off to the side which was out of the way of the rest of the headquarters, and she took a seat. The four looked to see several guns hung up on walls, along with what appeared to be some hunting trophies on the walls. Most of the decor was dark oak wood, and Alina sighed as she got on her seat behind the desk in the middle of the room, the two guards either side of her easing the grip on their guns.

"Pretty tight security for such a small place..." Sonic noted.

"Makes it all the more difficult to get to us," Alina smiled. "So, Nack."

"Yeah..." Sonic cleared his throat. "Sorry that he gave us a bad tip. That's the first time in a while, actually."

"We all have our off days, I suppose," said Alina.

"So," Tails said, "what exactly goes on here?"

"Well, fuzzy, like you, we keep tabs on any crimes in our local area. Except we don't ask for police help or jurisdiction." Alina shrugged. "We're like you freelancers, but without the fancy technology or cybernetic implants."

"Wow, you really did do your research, huh?" Tails asked, impressed.

"That we did," said Alina. "Anyway, any time that something in this city goes awry, we usually have someone go out and handle it."

"Define 'awry' in this context," Sonic said.

"Someone using a gun when they shouldn't need to be using one," said Alina. "All of them have trackers in them, so if someone goes off the rails, we'll know about it."

"What about other crimes that don't involve guns?" Tails asked. "If these criminals were smart, they'd probably be using knives all of the time."

"We have tapped into a few security cameras. Not enough to be suspected of anything, but enough to keep eyes around the city."

"Jeez, everyone's got a security camera setup these days..." Knuckles mumbled.

"Regardless, if anything goes bad, we usually have someone there to take care of it," said the Monument leader. "That's why there's not a lot of crime in the city. We take care of it from the shadows. I guess that someone must have gotten the word to Nack about us, because he didn't know what I'd be doing after I left his lot."

"Maybe some of his old friends in Westopolis kept tabs on you," Sonic suggested. "He is clever enough to think that far ahead."

"But not clever enough to trick enough of my own people to try and betray me," Alina shrugged.

After she spoke, a guard burst in. "Leader Alina! We have an alert! Upper northwest end of the city!"

"That's pretty far up from here," Alina said. "All right, we'll take care of it."

"But shouldn't we go-"

Alina held a hand up, silencing her guard. "Me and the freelancers will go and take a look. You stay here and hold down the fort."

"Of course," the guard nodded. "Would you like a vehicle to drop you off up there?"

Alina turned to the freelancers, and Sonic nodded. "We have a car. We can either use our boards to get to the car, or just use them to get to where the trouble is."

"Do your boards support the weight of two people?" Alina asked.

"If you join myself, Tails, or Shadow, then yes," Sonic said. "Knuckles, not so much."

"Hey," the red echidna groaned, "I'm curvy and I own it."

Alina got out of her seat. "Let's head out and get to work."

Sonic nodded. "We'll follow your lead."

Alina nodded back, heading out of her office and making her way out of the base, the freelance officers following her closely behind. They hopped onto their hover-boards, and Alina hopped onto Sonic's with him, holding onto him as the boards sped their way to their destination, Alina guiding them as best as she could through the back alleys so as she didn't get seen.

They were soon approaching the upper west end of the city, hearing some gunfire close by. They hopped off of their hover-boards, folding them up and leaving them behind in an alleyway as Alina led them around to where the action was. They soon got a good view of it all, seeing a couple of Monument Gang members in a firefight with some simpler looking thugs, who held guns that weren't as advanced but were still functional.

"Looks like your guys are in trouble for the right reason," Sonic said. "So, how do we take it from here?"

"I'll go over to my men," Alina said. "You provide covering fire, and I'll try to assess the situation." She turned on her earpiece. "You have one of these?"

Sonic nodded, pressing his own as well. "We'll wait for you to give the order."

Alina nodded, sliding out from the alleyway and heading over to the makeshift cover that her men had undertaken, which was one of their marked vehicles. On the way over, the thugs, of which she counted at least six, began firing upon her, but she slid under to reach the cover faster, and Sonic and the others opened fire from their hidden spot to put the thugs off, leading them to focus on the alleyway.

"You sure this was a good idea?" asked Knuckles as a bullets cracked the concrete that they were pressed up against.

"If we want her trust, then yes," said Sonic. "If she winds up killing us, then no."

"I really hope that you're making the right call..." Shadow replied. He looked up as Alina motioned them over, and he quickly teleported himself and the other three over to the cover.

"What happened here?" Knuckles asked.

"There's more of them around the other side!" said Alina. "My guys here were trying to run a sale, bumped into these thugs saying that they were the buyers, and then they opened fire. We've got someone in the van in critical condition. He might not make it through the firefight."

"So, what do we do?" asked Sonic.

"You lead your group," said Alina. "It's up to you."

The blue hedgehog nodded. "All right, one of us is going to take their wounded man to somewhere where he can get healed up."

"Hospital isn't an option," said Alina. "If you can, get him back to our base. We have people who can fix him up over there."

"I'll do it," Tails said. "I remember the route back."

Alina put a hand on thankful his shoulder. "I appreciate that."

Tails nodded. "What about the rest of you guys?"

"We'll try and get around them," Knuckles said. "Give them the slip and flank them. We've got this, bud."

"I'll provide some covering fire!" said Alina. "They probably know we're here anyway, so be careful getting out of here."

The yellow fox gave another nod at that, creeping to avoid the bullets firing as best as he could. He got to the back of the van, seeing a wounded Monument Gang member in there. He reached for his hand, the light showing that he'd been shot in the stomach, blood spilling out and staining his hoodie.

"What's your name?" Tails asked.

"I'm... N-Nolan..." the man said.

"All right, Nolan, I'm getting you out of here and back to your base, okay?"

"You... a new employee... for Alina?"

"No. We're just here to help," Tails said. "Come on..."

He lifted the wounded man up onto his feet, managing to drag him out of the back of the van as the fox took his jacket off, telling the person who he was carrying to apply pressure to his wound. Tails got onto his hover-board, starting it up and finding a path away from the gunfire, the sounds of the shots diminishing as Tails got further and further away.

"You boys ready?" Sonic asked the other freelancers.

"You get their heads to pop up," Alina said. "I'll take them out."

Sonic nodded, and Shadow teleported himself and the other two freelancers into another small alley next to where the opposing side was shooting. Some of the bad guys tried to fire upon them, but the freelancers kept moving around, seeing a small opening past on of the alleyway walls. Sonic gave another nod to the others, and the three peeled out of the corner, opening fire onto the thugs.

Some of the bad guys, distracted by the new angle of attack, decided to turn and fire back, their aim just skimming past the freelance agents as they found some better cover to start firing from. They kept shooting, some of the bullets hitting the bad guys and causing them to stumble back a bit before the rest of them turned their focus on Sonic and the others.

"Looks like Alina's getting her chance..." Shadow mumbled.

To confirm his suspicions, just as he peeked from his cover to fire another shot, one of the bad guys running to him stopped in his tracks as a bullet flew into his back and out through his chest, blood soon cascading down his shirtless torso and down to his jeans before he collapsed dead on the ground.

"That's the ticket!" Sonic said. "Keep drawing them out!"

The other two nodded in agreement, firing to draw more of the opposing forces out and even putting some of them down themselves. Several other men kept stepping out, and another vehicle on the opposing side even rolled around, indicating that they'd somehow managed to call in reinforcements to join the firefight... who were also drawn to the same fate as their brethren.

Unfortunately, even though more thugs joined the battle, they didn't stand a chance in the crossfire, and as more men fell, some of the remaining few held their hands up, causing the guns to stop firing as one of them stepped out into the middle of the street. As they walked out, several police sirens were heard nearing, and the one in the middle spoke, turning to Alina.

"We surrender!" the man said.

"Good," Sonic said, "because the police are almost here."

"Actually," Alina said, "that's not good. We need to make an escape. Quick."

"Hide in the alley!" said Sonic. "We'll get you out when we're done!"

Alina nodded as three police cars rounded the corner, all coming to a stop. One of the officers got out of his car. His uniform was a grey and black mixture, and the symbol on his uniform was a group of marble pillars with M.S.P.D written underneath it. He and some of the other officers started to cuff the bad guys which had already surrendered, and another officer walked up to Sonic.

"Did you do this all by yourselves?" the officer asked.

"Well, uh, we usually don't use lethal force," said Sonic. His eyes shifted up to meet the gaze of Alina, still hidden in the alleyway. "But we didn't have much of a choice for this one."

"Either way, I'm glad that you guys helped out," said the officer. "If it weren't for that pesky Monument Gang hanging around here and selling guns, then this place would be a lot safer."

"Just glad that we could help," Sonic said, shaking hands with the officer as the wounded thugs were carried in. "You keep doing your good work."

The officer nodded at that, and he and his fellow police officers got back into their cars, heading out as a coroner rolled up to collect the bodies of the deceased. As the coroners did their work, Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles all managed to sneak past them, finding themselves in the alleyway with Alina and her gang again before heading back out to her base.

"You know," Alina said as they got to the outside of the Monument Gang headquarters, "I'm thankful that you stepped up to help. And for covering with the cops. And the whole saving my wounded man thing."

"That's all that we're here to do," Sonic said. "Help first."

"Do you get a lot of botched deals?" Knuckles asked.

"Not a lot. That's one of the first bad ones in a while, actually," said Alina. "And none of my men ever got hurt before, so that didn't exactly boost my confidence."

"I just hope that Tails got him back in time," said Shadow.

They entered the base, and Tails walked up to them from a room in the back. "Hey. Are you guys okay?"

"Not a scratch," Alina smiled. "How's the wounded?"

"It was a tough call, but he's still breathing," Tails said.

Alina suddenly hugged the fox, which he didn't expect. She then let go of the hug. "Thank you..."

"N-No problem..." Tails said.

The one-eyed woman then turned to the other three freelancers. "And thank you all for helping as well."

"Any time," Sonic said. "But this does leave us with a problem..."

"Oh, yeah," Knuckles said. "You're supposed to tell Nack that you killed Alina. Even though, you know, you didn't kill Alina."

"And I'm not going to," Sonic said, turning to face Alina. "I can just tell him that I failed and that you got away. He'd buy it."

"You could," said Alina. "Or you could tell him some form of the truth..." She reached into her pocket, pulling out a knife. She nicked her hand with it before removing her necklace, handing it to Sonic. "When I was sort of working for him, he got me this as a present. But... I don't want it any more. Just say you took it from me when you killed me."

"I will." Sonic pocketed the necklace. "Why are you doing this? Why were you so eager to help us knowing that we weren't coming up here to help you?"

"Because I don't want anything to do with Nack again," Alina said. "If you can put him down, then I won't get in your way. And if that," she pointed to the necklace, "will help you, then you use that help."

The blue hedgehog nodded again. "I will. Thank you."

"Where are you boys heading now that your job here is done?" Alina asked.

"Star Light next," Sonic said. "Got a lot on our plate for the next couple of days, actually."

"Well, next time you're in the neighbourhood, we could always use some extra hands," Alina said.

Sonic chuckled. "I'll see what I can do."

He extended a hand, shaking Alina's none-wounded one, and the four freelancers hopped onto their hover-boards, getting on the motorway and making haste for Star Light City next.

* * *

 **Oh, hey, another chapter! Another fun one to write too! I hope that you guys all liked it. Next will be another chapter of this, maybe two, then some requests and a More Toys chapter. I'll see you for the next one. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.**


	15. Greased Palms

Nack was sat at one of the mess hall tables, enjoying his lunch in relative silence. There were some other prisoners sat around him, but he didn't pay them a lot of mind... until a familiar and older appeared next to him, sitting next to him with some food. Ovi shot an easy grin at Nack, nodding in respect.

"Did I ever get the chance to tell you where I was born?" Ovi asked.

"No, but judging by the accent, I'm going to guess Russia or thereabouts," said Nack.

"Close," said Ovi. "Azerbaijan. Another country that speaks close to the same language."

"Well, how did you get from America to Mobius?" Nack asked.

"I was flying out here for a new job opportunity. In my home country, as soon as they see you as old, they see you as weak. And if they see you as weak, then you lose your job."

"Did you get your job?" Nack asked.

Ovi nodded. "I was a delivery driver. It was good money, I got a nice house for me and my family. But... well, I told you about the accident before."

"I'm surprised that you're able to retain that sort of information, considering your dementia," Nack said.

"As am I. But I do still forget things from time to time." He looked down at his food. "What am I eating, exactly?"

"I think that it's chicken," Nack replied. "With gravy too."

Ovi nodded, looking back over other tables. "They don't seem to have this."

Nack looked down at his food. "No, they don't." He leaned close to Ovi. "I asked the higher-ups to give you care. I'll admit that much. But I specifically said no special treatment."

"Well, I appreciate that," Ovi said. He gestured his head over to a far corner. "That's the guard that Gerren asked to look over me. He's been putting in the hours and doing his job well, but he told me nothing about this."

"Yeah... it seems that way..." Nack cleared his throat as some guards started to look over. "Let's eat first. I'll talk with my own personal guard when we're done."

Ovi nodded at that, and he and Nack finished their food, as did the other inmates there. They all soon got back up and headed to the recreational area, and Nack decided to play some basketball with a few of the other prisoners as Ovi watched on from the benches.

He took a book out to read, his eyes scanning the pages. "Hmm... was I... here?"

Nack noticed the old man struggling, and after having the ball swatted from him, he nodded silently to another inmate to take his place before sitting next to Ovi. "Having troubles?"

"I..." Ovi's finger shook as he pointed. "I can't remember... what page I was on..."

"Don't you have a bookmark?" Nack asked.

"I... lost it..." Ovi replied, turning to cough.

Nack recognised some of the words. "Oh, this is that book that you recommended to me. Hmm... let's see..." He reached for the book. "May I?"

"Of course," Ovi nodded.

Nack took the book from him, flicking through several pages until he reached a paragraph that he recognised, as that's where he'd left off. Remembering that Ovi was a bit ahead of him, he skipped ahead a few more pages, his eyes flickering through the words before he handed the book back to Ovi, his finger held on the page.

"Was it there?" the purple weasel asked.

"Y-Yes! It was!" Ovi nodded, smiling. "Thank you, Nack."

"It's no trouble," Nack smiled.

"Yo, Nack, want to fill in?" asked an inmate. "I'm about done."

"Sure, I'll be right there."

Later, after finishing the game of basketball, Nack's side, for lack of a better term, wound up winning. Although, halfway through, Ovi was taken from his seat and guided back to his cell, the book never leaving his person, but Nack waited until the time was over and everyone headed back to their cells to bring the issue up with Gerren.

So, as soon as Nack was walked to his cell, he turned to face Gerren. "I've got a couple of questions to ask of you before you put me back in there."

"Well, if I don't put you back in there, the other guards will get mighty suspicious," said Gerren.

"It won't take long," Nack said. "I just have a quick thing to ask."

"Well, if it's quick..." He pushed Nack to the other side of the cell and locked it, "then you can ask it like this, right?"

Nack smirked softly, his expression soon turning serious after. "So, I sort of understand why I had better food at lunch today, despite not asking for special treatment. But I only asked that Ovi get looked after better, also requesting that he not get special treatment either."

"Hmm... I didn't know about that," Gerren said.

"But it was a guard that you hired," Nack said.

"And I still didn't know," Gerren replied. "Hmm... I guess that I could bring it up with Schneider."

"And what, make his already greased palms even greasier?" Nack asked. "If you keep that up, he'll wind up slipping."

Gerren leaned in closely. "It'll all happen soon. And you have all that you need," he whispered.

"If we have all that we need, why has it not happened yet?" asked Nack, also whispering.

The guard chuckled as another one passed by. "You know, you shouldn't keep me from work. Don't want the other guards to knock out even more of your teeth."

"Damn straight!" said the guard passing by.

Gerren laughed at that, before showing five fingers on one hand to Nack. Nack sighed, nodding as he went back to his bed. With Gerren checking around to make sure that other guards weren't looking, Nack took a quick look under his bed to make sure that he had all that he needed, hiding it in a small floor panel under his bed before putting it back gingerly so as not to cast suspicions.

"When the time comes... make it quick," Nack said, laying back on his bed and opening his book.

* * *

 **At Star Light City...**

* * *

Sonic, Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles were passing through Star Light City, deciding to get some food as the previous fight had worked up an appetite. Not to mention that they hadn't eaten since breakfast. Using their knowledge of the city, they found a Jade Mountain restaurant there, deciding to park their hover-boards and head inside where they saw some familiar faces. After engaging in some small talk and placing their orders, they got down to the main focus of why the freelancers were in the city in the first place.

"So, you guys are just here to check on an old drug deal?" asked Cameron.

"That we are," Knuckles replied.

Cameron nodded. "And you just happened to come to Star Light City's Jade Mountain on the way there?"

"Well, we needed some lunch," Knuckles weakly defended. "I haven't eaten since breakfast..."

Spencer chuckled. "Give us the down-low on Nack. Or, rather, where you're going."

Sonic nodded. "Well, first, we had to sort of take care of something in Marble Stone, and now we're here, still following Zayd's lead."

"After this," Shadow added, "it's Aqua Lake, then Spring Yard."

"Wait, Spring Yard..." Spencer scratched his neck. "That's... that's where that crime dude is..."

"Way to be specific," said Walsh.

"Jem's his name," Tails said, pausing to thank the waiter dropping off the food and even paying for it before continuing. "The thing is that he's got a nasty implant."

"The problem with that is that none of us know what it does," Knuckles said.

"So, what's the plan up here?" asked Cameron. "Shake down everybody who might have had a connection to Zayd?"

"Well, he did have a way of getting around place to place," said Sonic. "And, like Mona said, the dude always had an escape route, which means that he could have had contacts anywhere in this city."

"It'll be difficult to pin the buyer down, then," Shadow said. "And I doubt that Mona would know anything about it, either. I mean, yes, she knew that he got around, but she never got involved with those other people, right?"

"That's right," Sonic said.

Spencer and Walsh looked at each other and nodded before the latter spoke. "You know, she's under watch from some of our guys. Witness protection, and also to stop her from getting into more trouble with drugs. We could take you to her place to ask her some questions, if that'd help?"

"That would. Tons, in fact." The blue hedgehog nodded. "Thanks, man."

"No sweat," Cameron chuckled. "We've got your back."

They all then focused on eating their food, soon getting it down their necks. Now refuelled, the freelancers hopped onto their hover-boards, following the Star Light police officers as they got into their department issued police cars, driving to Mona's house and leading the way for the freelancers to follow. After a surprisingly long drive, they got to an apartment building, all parking their vehicles and entering, the freelancers following the police officers up to Mona's apartment.

"So, why does she live here?" asked Knuckles. "I thought that she was going to college."

"Well, neither she or Nack ever specifically stated," Tails pointed out. "She could be taking online courses, though."

"If you're right on that, I'll give you 20 bucks," the red echidna said.

"Deal."

The freelancers got to where Mona's place was, and the officers in front let the freelance agents in, and Mona was indeed on a laptop, removing her headphones as she heard the door open. On her screen was an online course about Greek history, and Knuckles wordlessly pulled 20 dollars out of his wallet and gave it to Tails as Mona spotted them all.

"Oh... hey..." She cleared her throat.

"How are you?" Sonic asked.

"I'm... I'm good..." She nodded. "I, uh, took your advice. Did some online rehab stuff, as I can't exactly go out right now. Thank you for, uh, getting me the protection, by the way."

"I'm just sorry that it got in the way of you going to work," Sonic said. "Is that friend of yours going to be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mona nodded fast. "A couple of officers are working on getting her some better care, actually. It might take a while, but it's a start." She turned around to close down her laptop before speaking. "So, what brings you fellows here?"

"Well, we're following a trail that goes through four places," Tails explained. "And this is the second one of those."

"We got a good tip that says that Zayd was coming back here after he was done in Marble Stone," Shadow added. "We think that it's because of a missed deal."

"And... and you think that I know anything about it?" Mona asked. "I tried not to get involved with anyone else outside of Zayd." Her eyes seemed to focus specifically on Sonic. "You know that."

"I do..." Sonic said. "I didn't mean to make any assumptions. But you're the only person that we could think of to help."

Mona shook her head. "I... I'm sorry." She wiped a small tear from her cheek. "I don't... I don't think so..." She turned and scratched the inside of her wrist. "There... there might be somebody..."

"Where?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know the full details, but they live in the western end of the city," Mona said. "We've had a couple of talks over the phone that didn't last long, but I think that it's a male. The last time that I heard from him, he was asking for some of the harder stuff."

"Oh, hey, I think that I know who you're on about," Cameron said. "The dude's in a lot of gambling debt, though. He's not really in a position to be buying hard drugs."

"A name would be helpful," said Sonic.

"Oh, right," Mona said sheepishly. "Sorry. Uh, his name is Benson."

"Anything else about him that you'd like to share?" asked Shadow.

"He's a Mobian. A crocodile, like..." She pointed at Walsh.

"I'm a caiman," Walsh said, "but a lot of people make that mistake. I'll give you a pass for that one."

"Thank you," Mona nodded. "But yeah, his name is Benson. West side of the city. Just say that you're a friend of Zayd's and that you're doing a delivery run."

"You know, you're not really in the best place to tell us how to do things," Sonic pointed out.

"I know..." Mona hung her head.

"But, to be fair, that is a pretty good idea."

"Only if word hasn't gotten out here that Zayd's locked up in Angel Wing," Tails said.

"Also true," Sonic said. "But, fuck it. We've taken bigger risks than that."

Mona nodded. "Is... is there anything else that I can help you with?"

"Not that I can think of," Sonic said. "But thank you. And it's good that you're doing what you're doing."

Mona nodded again. "Trying to keep to my word of staying out of trouble." She stepped forwards to hug Sonic, and her ankle bracelet beeped. She sheepishly let go of the hug before stepping back. "Hopefully you guys don't treat that as too big of in infraction?"

Cameron smiled. "We'll let it slide. Just stick to your word, okay?"

"Okay. And, again, thank you."

The Star Light police officers nodded, leaving the room with the freelance agents and heading back outside. They decided to head to the Star Light Police Department, as Walsh, Cameron, and Spencer needed to head back there anyway for a report, and when they were done, the freelancers were sat in the meeting room with Dingo as the other police officers left to go back out to the field.

"So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?" Dingo asked. "Also, Shadow, sorry to hear about what happened to you, mate."

"Hell, I'm still kicking ass," Shadow said.

"Which is sort of why we're here," Sonic added. "You know, ass kicking reasons possibly set aside."

"Well, what's the deal?" Dingo asked.

"There's a Mobian waiting for a delivery from Zayd in the west side of the city," Tails said. "In case anything bad goes down, we could use some backup on standby."

"That's fair," said Dingo. "Just because it's one guy there doesn't mean that he'll be on his own. I'll keep some of my men on call just in case."

"Appreciated," said Sonic.

Dingo chuckled. "You boys sure got a busy couple of days ahead of you, huh?"

"We've been getting that a lot lately," said Knuckles.

"Wish that I could send some of my blokes out to help you in Aqua Lake and such, but we've got to respect jurisdiction rules and all of that," said Dingo. "You know how it goes."

"We do," Knuckles said. "But thanks to our new occupations, we can wilfully ignore those rules!"

Dingo laughed a bit at that. "You lucky lot! All right, you guys get out of here. I'm busy too, you know."

The freelance officers nodded, shaking hands with the Star Light police captain before leaving the meeting room. They headed back outside, getting onto their hover-boards and setting themselves a course for the west end of the city. Along the way there, Shadow received a text from Spencer, saying that they'd set up the meeting with Benson, so he showed the others the message too.

They soon got to their destination, seeing a sort of different side to Star Light City. It didn't appear as pretty as the rest of the city did, and yes, they'd encountered many high crime areas, but the west side of Star Light was a stark contrast to the rest of its surroundings. Still, the four grouped up together outside of where they were going to meet Benson, taking the chance to go over their plan.

"So, who goes out there to sort it?" asked Shadow.

"I think that it should be me," Knuckles said. "It'll be easy for me to get the drop on him if he turns his back."

"You're good in a fight, but you're not a master of stealth," said Sonic.

"Well, Zayd's got black fur, right?" Tails suggested. "We don't know what Benson knows, but it's safe to assume that he has a vague description of Zayd."

"So, it'll be me, then?" Shadow added.

"Afraid so, buddy," Sonic said.

"Yeah... that checks out," the black and red hedgehog said. He turned and headed off around the corner, seeing a dark purple scaled crocodile waiting outside a small building. "That's my cue... here I go..." He walked away from the other freelancers to do the deal, mumbling to himself. "Shadow, go do this because you look the most criminal. Shadow, go do this because you used to be a criminal. Shadow, reach the cereal from the top shelf because I can't be bothered to fly up there even though my implant lets me do that."

"Feel like he's talking about you," Knuckles said to Tails.

"Hey, those cereal boxes can be a real struggle to get to, okay?" Tails meekly defended as Shadow approached Benson.

"Yo, what's up," Shadow said.

Benson looked Shadow up and down. "You're the guy, huh?"

"That I am," the black and red hedgehog nodded.

"You know, you look less... rough than I would have anticipated," said Benson. "From what that girl told me about you, I was expecting, I don't know, more of a mean streak."

"Yeah, look, let's just get this job done, okay?" Shadow said impatiently. "I've got other places to go to after this."

"You got the stuff, right?" Benson asked.

"Yeah, I just said so, essentially," Shadow said.

"Well, how much do you need?" asked Benson.

Shadow scratched his head. "Depends on what you got."

Benson leaned close to him. "Don't tell me that you forgot the plan..."

Shadow leaned closer to Benson. "What do you mean?"

"I'm the drop-off guy, remember?" Benson shook his head. "I thought that your higher-ups at Westopolis told you that."

"Dropping off?" Sonic asked into the earpiece. "Might want to bring that up with him."

"Dropping off where?" Shadow asked.

"Green Hill," said Benson. "There's a friend of ours out there who's expecting some of the good shit. I trust that you have it with you, right?" He whispered. "Fokus..."

"Oh, no, I'm listening pretty well," Shadow replied.

"The drug, dude," Benson chuckled.

"Actually, I, uh... left it in my car..." Shadow said. "I just need to go and grab it."

"Now might be a good time for us to move..." Tails suggested.

"You left them in your fucking car?" asked Benson. "What the fuck? I thought that you were a professional at this!"

"I'm trying to stay low!" Shadow said. "What, you don't think I got cops on my ass or something?"

"I don't know what to think, man. All that I know is that, right now, I don't fucking trust you!" Benson looked down to shake his head, his eyebrows raising upon seeing a scar on Shadow's leg. "And I think that further proves it. What, did you burn yourself by accident or something?"

"Look, I've got other business to attend to," Shadow sighed. "I don't have time for this." He turned around, hearing a gun barrel click.

"Neither do I," said Benson.

Shadow shook his head again. "Are you sure?"

"That I want to do this?" asked Benson. "Damn right, I do."

Shadow closed his eyes, nodding to himself and teleporting behind Benson. Before the crocodile could tell what was happening, he instead tried swinging blindly behind himself, and Shadow exuded little effort in catching the arm, twisting it behind Benson and pushing him onto his front and holding him down. Benson struggled, trying to kick back, but he stopped as he saw three other pairs of shoes get near him.

"So," Sonic spoke, "a drop-off guy. Looks like Zayd was coming back here for more than just a small deal."

"Who the hell are you guys?" Benson demanded to know.

"Well, would you look at that?" Tails said. "Someone who doesn't know who we are. I'll admit, that is kind of refreshing."

"Damn cops..." Benson shook his head. "Yo, emo, would you get off my back? I can't fucking breathe!"

Shadow stood up with Benson, still keeping him locked before slipping a pair of handcuffs around the crocodile's wrists. "Better?"

Benson shook his head. "Fuck you..."

"You sure swear a lot," Sonic said. "So, how about you do us a favour and tell us who you're driving the Fokus to?"

"I'm not telling you anything!" said Benson.

Sonic looked up to the skies. "Tails, if you wouldn't mind?"

The yellow fox nodded, picking up Benson by the leg and flying up about ten feet into the air, then twenty feet, dangling Benson, who started to scream in panic as he looked down to see the ground get further and further away. He scrambled and tried to thrash with his tail to get Tails to release him.

"Let me go, goddammit!" he screamed.

"Are you sure that you want me to do that from this height?" asked Tails, chuckling.

"I'd take a concussion over telling you pigs anything!" said Benson.

"Well, if I drop you from about..." Tails flew up twenty feet higher, "here, that'll give you more than a concussion, right?"

Benson thrashed around more. "Let me go! Fuck!"

"We just want to know where you'er taking the Fokus!" Knuckles called up.

"I'm not going to say!" Benson said, his tail whipping Tails hard in his back.

"Ah, shit!"

The sudden twinge of pain in Tails' back caused him to let go of Benson, and the drug dealer was falling rapidly to the ground. Tails flew down to try and grab his leg again, but he missed by an inch, and Benson plummeted further down... until Shadow teleported over to catch him in the nick of time, standing up with him.

"Is he okay?" Tails asked, landing next to the others.

"I'm... fine..." Benson pushed away from Shadow, turning his head to throw up on the ground. "Fuck... I hate heights... so much..."

"So..." Sonic cleared his throat. "Are you finally going to tell us where you're going?"

"Green Hill..." Benson said. "A guy named Merrick... he keeps buying the shit... I do different drops from here to there, nowhere else. Zayd sometimes asks me to do it, but we've never met face to face because he's usually busy doing other deals here." He looked at Shadow. "For all that I knew, you could really have been him. And, fuck, I still don't know your name."

"It's Shadow," the black and red hedgehog said.

"Doesn't matter... you pricks are still cops..." Benson spat on the ground.

"We're freelance agents, actually," Knuckles said.

Benson's eyes widened. "Oh, shit... you guys are the talk of the town? You're the ones that I've been hearing stories about for the past few months?"

"I'm just surprised that it took so long to reach his ears," Knuckles said.

"I can't believe this..." Benson shook his head. "Well, doesn't matter. You're still cops to me, which means that I ain't having any of your bullshit."

"Do you want me to dangle you up in the air again?" Tails asked.

Benson shook his head again, more vehemently this time. "Please, no. Look... whatever you guys want... just... I'll give it to you, all right? No more dangling."

"You're sure that it was Merrick?" Sonic pressed. "As in, you're positive that it was him?"

"I know who I'm dropping this shit off to, dude," said Benson. "I could even take you there."

"We already sort of know the path," said Tails. "You, however, can wait here with us while some of the good boys from Star Light Police Department come and get you. And also clean the vomit from your shirt."

Benson gave another sigh, sitting still and waiting with the others as Sonic sent a call out to Star Light police officers. The familiar faces of Cameron, Spencer, and Walsh appeared again, gathering the drug dealer and packing him into a car before speaking with the blue hedgehog.

"So, he gave up what he was doing?" asked Cameron.

"Yep," said Sonic. "Selling to a guy named Merrick in Green Hill. We're heading there next."

"Which is good, as we'll need to rest up over there too before going to Aqua Lake," Knuckles added. He got a look from Sonic, shrugging. "What? It's a long trip, and it's going to be a big mission of Nack has told us anything."

"Did you just say Nack?" asked Benson. "Aw, fuck, the fake cops are on that ass-hole's payroll now? What has this world come to?"

"Can it," Spencer shook his head. "Still, that's a pretty big tip. You sure that you want to head back there now to get the guy?"

Knuckles nodded. "It's something personal that we need to do. If we're lucky, we'll be able to catch him now."

"Well, good luck to you guys," said Cameron. "We'll give you an update if anything goes down over here."

"Actually, we could split up," said Sonic. "Two of us help with the drive back to S.L.P.D, and the others go and check out Merrick."

"Knuckles and I went to find Merrick the first time," said Tails. "We know where he lives, so we'll go again."

"Sounds good," Sonic said. "Meet back at base when we're done?"

"Sure thing," Knuckles said. "I'll pick up some Jade Mountain on the way back to our base."

The others chuckled at that, and they headed their separate ways. Knuckles and Tails jumped on their hover-boards to head back to Green Hill, whereas Sonic and Shadow got into one of the Star Light vehicles that came with the other officers, soon being driven to Star Light's police station with Benson in tow.

Back with Tails and Knuckles, the two were on the highway back to Green Hill, where the red echidna was the first to speak up. "What's the plan when we get to Merrick? Just straight up arrest him?"

"I think that we should ask him if he knows anything first," said Tails.

"Like why is he taking Fokus from a relatively well-known drug dealer?" Knuckles said.

"Well, that, and other stuff," Tails said. "We'll just figure it out when we get there."

Knuckles nodded, and he and the yellow fox continued the rest of the way back to Green Hill, taking the route to the Southern end of Green Hill where Merrick lived. As soon as they got to his neighbourhood, they folded their hover-boards up behind their backs, sneaking behind the bush that they spied on him from the last time as night started to take shape above their heads.

"Well, here we are," said Knuckles. "Is there much point in hiding back here?"

"There could be," Tails smiled as a car pulled up. Outside of the car walked Bunnie Rabbot, wearing more casual wear and knocking the door to Merrick's place.

"Bunnie?" asked Knuckles. "What the hell is she doing out here?"

"Oh, I put out some texts on the way back here for some backup," said Tails. "Only we're the backup, it seems. Antoine is in the car too."

Knuckles spotted him, nodding. "Ah, so he is. Nice thinking, fox boy."

Bunnie didn't have to wait long until Merrick answered the door, his eyes drawn to the Mobian's chest before his face met her eyes. "Oh... hello there..."

"Hi," Bunnie giggled. "So, you ready to do this?"

"I mean, I usually don't pay for whatever you're selling, but I'll make an exception for you," Merrick chuckled.

"Not that..." Bunnie reached behind her, pulling a box from behind her. "This, stud."

Merrick nodded. "I did place an order for that as well, yes." He shook his head, smiling. "Want to partake with me?"

"Eh, it's late at night and I got nowhere else to be..." said Merrick, opening his door.

He walked back in, Bunnie following him closely before Antoine peaked his head out of the car. As soon as the door was closed and locked up, he slipped out of the door and crept over to where Knuckles and Tails were, sitting down with them as Tails pulled out a pair of binoculars to hand over to him.

"Hello there," Antoine said politely.

"Hey, been a while," Tails said. "What's the plan?"

"Well, Bunnie is going to, you know, basically just be herself," Antoine said. "And when the time is right, she'll subdue Merrick and hopefully knock him out somehow for us to take him back to the police department." He then paused. "Wait, shouldn't you guys be over in Star Light?"

"We got that sorted," Knuckles said. "We'll get to Aqua Lake first thing tomorrow."

"Ah, right," Antoine nodded. "You know, I'm surprised that this tip is finally paying off. It was pretty tough to get to Merrick at first with that Zayd guy still involved."

"There was a Mobian in Star Light named Benson who pointed us back this way," Tails said. "Funny how it all wraps around."

Antoine nodded. "Indeed!"

"So, not to come off as too personal, but is Bunnie going to... uh..." Knuckles stopped himself.

"I already explained," said Antoine. "And besides, she won't be going too far with it all." He paused as he heard her words come through on the earpiece.

"Well... hopefully, you don't mind if I take a drink..." Bunnie said.

Antoine knew that as a code to move forward, and Knuckles and Tails followed. As they crept around to the house, keeping their heads low, Antoine went to the front of the house, and Tails and Knuckles went around to the back, seeing that the back door was cracked open already. They nodded too each other and slid inside, preparing their pistols just in case.

"You know," they heard Merrick, "I don't usually have a dropper around for this long. This has been quite pleasant... and hopefully we can make it more so..."

As he was about to turn around to see Tails and Knuckles, Bunnie suddenly turned Merrick back around, hugging him tightly and catching him off guard. He found himself hugging her back, his hands gliding down her back and a smirk on his face as they went lower... and Bunnie motioned her hand behind Benson's back to beckon the two freelancers over.

"Freeze!" Tails and Knuckles called, guns ready.

Merrick grunted. "You goddamn cops... you can't leave me alone?"

He turned around again, breaking away from Bunnie and picking up his own gun. He then recognised Knuckles, his eyes widening in shock. Taking advantage, Bunnie tripped him up from behind, knocking his gun away and putting a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. He struggled under her weight, his eyes looking up at Tails and Knuckles as Antoine walked in.

"Well, that was fairly easy," said Antoine.

"I... I recognise you..." said Merrick, looking at Knuckles.

"And we took our sweet time in finding you," the red echidna retorted. "Unfortunately, it's getting late, and me and my buddy here have a busy day tomorrow, so we'll save your questioning for a later date. And, believe me, you'll have plenty of time in your holding cell to think it over."

"Fucking... dammit..." Merrick snarled.

"Lots of swearing today," Tails noted.

Bunnie picked Merrick up, handing him off to Antoine before redressing herself. "Ugh... that felt dirty..."

"I did ask you if you were sure," said Antoine. "You said yes."

"Now why does that sound familiar..." Knuckles muttered.

"Thank you guys for your help!" Bunnie said, hugging Knuckles and Tails.

"No problem," said Tails, smiling. "I wish that we could talk to him tomorrow, but yeah, you sort of already know why."

Bunnie smiled softly. "We know. I'll give Cosmo a big hug for you. Oh, that reminds me!" She kissed Tails on the cheek. "From her, but a few inches left of the cheek."

Tails blushed. "Ugh... same from me to her..."

Bunnie giggled, and Knuckles and Tails soon headed out of the building, getting back on their hover-boards and going back to their base. They knew that Shadow and Sonic were already in there, so they joined them in the kitchen for their food before spending the last few hours of the day doing their usual stuff and eventually going to bed.

* * *

 **And another one is done! I can promise more action in the next couple of chapters, and it'll be a fun one. But first, new More Toys chapter, then some one-shots, then back to this. Going to be a lot of smut from me real soon. Until then, take care, and stay tuned.**


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